


every little thing (is gonna be alright)

by aaliyrah



Category: QTWD, The 100 (TV)
Genre: ???smut???????, Angst, Eventual Relationships, Eventual Romance, F/F, Fluff, Friends to Lovers, Humor, Slow Build, Slow Romance, nooooo
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-03-16
Updated: 2017-08-27
Packaged: 2018-05-27 00:23:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 6
Words: 39,678
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6261805
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/aaliyrah/pseuds/aaliyrah
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>[prev. title: so, did you guys have a bonding session (about how fucked up i am)?]</p><p>Alicia miraculously encounters a blonde at the start of the apocalypse, only to be left alone for "her own safety" and her family's.</p><p>But they reunite once again, starting back as strangers within weeks into the apocalypse; having the same bodies, but sporting diverse souls as the outbreak took effect of their own beings.</p><p>Fate obliges them to explore new areas of each other that the apocalypse has unlocked, and Alicia slowly learns why her guardian angel has left her from the beginning.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. i rammed over someone again but at least this time they were already dead

**Author's Note:**

> ocs (own characters) of mine will be a part of this story and i will provide links at the end notes for the chapters where they're introduced for more information about them.
> 
> also, I update chapters A LOT, so new readers might experience more than the first timers whoops
> 
> i cant help myself if im trying to improve my shitty writing ok

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alicia comes to visit Matt, finding him twisted and ill on the floor that leads her to nurse his wounds. But there are two things:
> 
> 1\. She doesn't know how to take care of a bilious fever.  
> 2\. She has no supplies FOR a bilious fever.
> 
> So she wanders to the nearest hospital, stumbling upon her first undead and a horrendous driver within her journey who offers to lend a helping hand.

 

 

 

“Alicia—”

“ _Shh_ ,” she stretched out in a whisper, her eyebrows furrowing with a drenched towel pressing against her boyfriend’s head. “Don’t say a word and just let me finish, you dingus.”

Matt let a low chuckle erupt, causing Alicia’s mouth to form a smile of her own, only to let it fall into a straight line when her corners twitched upward. Her hand stayed stiff on his forehead, letting gentle strokes emerge after seconds of resting and watched as Matt’s eyelids started to droop. She repeats the gestures in an endless cycle, even after Matt was in a resting state. His chest started to pump in a slow rhythm and his body seemed to be motionless under her touch. When she was satisfied that he’d remain still, she left the towel onto his forehead, positioning herself on the bed to rest her elbows on her knees while her chin laid upon her palms. She let a smile tickle her mouth when Matt let out content sigh before leaving his body limp to rest.

She hasn’t moved from her position for minutes, probably hours, when she found herself paralyzed at her spot from the presence of her boyfriend. She couldn’t find it within her to muster up the action to be angry at the boy because of the situation he was found in. His temperature was very abnormal with a temperature of 103 degrees Fahrenheit causing a severe fever, but she ultimately decides to take care of his wounds without the knowledge of her parents knowing her location. The reminder of Matt abandoning Alicia in the beach was stitched onto her upper-left arm, the inking of the temporary tattoo slowly fading within the days.

“I’m sorry for not coming,” Matt mumbled, startling Alicia from her thoughts. “I was in a strange situation and I couldn’t get to the beach on time.”

Alicia nodded in understanding, even though Matt couldn’t see through his eyelids. “I didn’t need an excuse to forgive you. I already have.”

“That doesn’t mean I forgive myself,” he replied with a croaked throat, “I’m still sorry for letting you worry. I could still finish that tattoo, if you’d like.”

Alicia answered with a humorless chuckle, “Why else had I went to the beach? Of course I want you to finish it, but not in…” She hesitantly gestures to all of Matt, “ _this_ state, surprisingly.” The brunette muttered the last word. “You can finish it when you’re feeling better, but right now, I’m worried that you’re not getting enough rest.”

Alicia could detect the slightest movement within Matt’s head, indicating that he was weakly nodding to her words. Concern and fear fills her mind from her boyfriend’s feeble state, permitting a shaky, inaudible breath leave her lungs when Matt begins to relax again. She spotted a patch of red-ish orange substance seeping in on his shirt near his shoulder when she found him twitching on the floor, but she never revealed the wound, fearing that she’d start to malfunction from the brimming thoughts of ‘what ifs’ that would most likely happen, considering that it seems to be like the end of the world, currently. She isn’t a healer, but the miniature knowledge she knows about fevers would only help her now, and the irregular temperature was enough to make her explode with concerns.

After a little debating in her head, she shuffles out of the bed and advances towards the door with muted footsteps. “I’ll be back, Matt. Don’t do anything stupid.”

“Like I already have,” Matt weakly replies, a frail smile plastered on his face. The digits of his fingers lifted up in an attempt of waving goodbye. “Be careful.”

Alicia didn’t reply, but she left the room with a scrawny smirk, silently closing the door. Her mouth stilled into the smirk only for a few steps until it fell when she took the sight of the ruined living room.

The furniture’s were in unusual places with scattered broken glass filtering the tiled floors and carpets. The rugs were dyed with blood that upholds dispersed kitchen utensils, knives wedged within walls with pairs of blades jammed onto the fractured television that multiplied the sheers of fragmented glass. The floor was completely roofed with glass that Alicia worried that she wouldn’t make it through the exit without a cut shoe.

Luckily, there was a thrown broom at the feet of the back of a sofa. Going to her hands and knees, Alicia’s whole body leaned towards the direction of the broom when her arms weren’t long enough to reach them. With the tip of her digits brushing the base, she knocked down the broom to her direction, gripping the handle and pulling it towards her. With broom in hand, she escalated back to her feet, scanning the room with a tiring sigh.

_Chores: my personal favorite._

 

 

* * *

 

 

After creating a clear, rough path towards the entrance, Alicia managed to bum-rush to the door with a strip of blood trickling down her arm from a sneaky broken fragment, tripping on her own leg on the way out while hollering a “ _shit!”_ when falling.

A dull thud came when her body collided on the concrete, forcing a little “ _oof_ ” to come out of Alicia. She wasted no time hastily gather herself back up, brushing the foot of her shirt and reaching out to check her phone to see if it’s cracked (because obviously, that’s the thing you’re most worried about in the apocalyptic world).

Alicia had a plan to grab as many supplies as she can to treat Matt. Even if she doesn’t know what they’re used for, they just need to look handy enough for her to take the taking. But her thinking stopped there, not really knowing _where_ to get the supplies. She doesn’t know if there’s a hospital nearby, so she pulls out a map and typed in her location.

There’s a hospital not too far, west from where she stands. Alicia bites her lip, staring at her phone screen.

 _Its three miles away. Nobody has time to walk that far._ Examining the sidewalk of Matt’s house to see if anything’s available to steal, there were empty cars aligned. Even though she thought that nobody was too stupid to leave their car open unless they were drunk, she tests to see if the locks were activated.

Of course, they’re all locked.

When she was just about to take the option of walking, a pink bike leaning against a tree came to view. Alicia cocked an eyebrow, weighing the options in her head. It wasn’t really her style, but…

 _Eh. Fuck it._ She progresses towards the bike while fishing out tangled earplugs in her back pockets, pulling on the knots to unravel some wires. She plugged it in her phone, pulling up a playlist and situated herself onto the bike, positioning her feet on the pedals.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Alicia wasn’t really listening to the lyrics playing through her ears, although she manages bopping her head to whatever beat she’s listening to. She shouldn’t be taking her time, but she finds herself lazily streaming across the empty road, swerving to and fro instead of a straightforward line. Her eyes weren’t practically focused on the road, but rather on the handlebars where her hands were located. She roughly covered less than half of a mile after 30 minutes of departing from Matt’s house and the sun was slowly dipping down to the horizon behind the clouds. Alicia Clark _is_ worried about her boyfriend’s health, yes, but she somehow can’t escape her sluggish efforts of traveling to the hospital.

But she somehow can’t escape…the croaked groans coming from her right?

They were loud enough to break through the barricade of music that Alicia assigned. They were noticeable enough to catch Alicia’s attention. They were disturbing enough to halt Alicia’s paddling.

Green eyes met dead ones, and Alicia suddenly forgot how to move. Standing there was a man with rotten flesh with skin, exposing blue vines that dangled down and peeling. Their jaw was drenched with blood, and their jaw wasn’t there at _all._ Their clothes were ripped apart, with eyes that hold no color. The man couldn’t hold a regular position, but instead, limps.

Alicia immediately unloads on the bike and plunges the bicycle on the middle of the road as she took reversed steps to even the distance from the man and herself. “What the fuck are _you_?!”

The man just stared straight at her, answering with one of its nauseating croaks as it took a step forward, a worn out tie dangling from its neck.

Alicia was thronged with fear, but was also swamped with curiosity from what this… _creature_ was. She didn’t run, but create a distance between them that wasn’t enough for her liking. Her heel tripped on the perimeter of the sidewalk, causing her to fall but scattered back to her feet within seconds as she entered the field of grass. She was about to run.

 _About_ to.

Until she heard screeching tires, along with a rusty truck coming into view that came ramming to the man in its sides. The vehicle spun around rapidly with the man still wedged onto one of the doors, coming to a complete stop, but not without connecting with a bump that caused the car to become airborne.

Alicia couldn’t process what happened, but flinched from the deafening blare that went after the squealing of tires. Her hands instantly covered her ears, the thunderous crash penetrating through her hands as it still rung through her head. She found herself immobile with her heart unable to register and hands still violently digging through her ears even when an eerie silent followed the incident. Her limbs started to tremble along with her bottom lip as her eyes started to trail to where the truck flew. Her trembling hands hesitantly uncovered her ears, a low groan audible from where the truck was.

But it was a human groan. A girl.

After hearing a car door open, Alicia wasted no time to run where the car was to find someone crawling out. She looked human, with messy blonde curls covering her facial features that sported a worn and torn long sleeved gray button-up shirt. Below her waist was covered within the truck. She propped herself up with her forearms, crawling out of the car that remained upside-down.

When Alicia heard a cough coming from the girl, she started to jog to her, only to stop in her tracks when the same man emerged from the hood of the car, seeming unfazed from the brutal connection.

“Hey!” Alicia hollered, getting the girl’s attention, “Look out!”

When the girl’s head twisted towards her back, Alicia could sense the girl’s surprise and fear. She promptly sprinted towards the blonde and pushed herself farther beyond her limits when she saw the man dipping down towards the girl’s neck. The blonde catching his head on time, but her strength was rapidly fading with the man slowly inching towards her exposed skin.

Within no time, Alicia connected the sole of her foot between the man’s shoulder and neck with enough force to cause the inhuman to tumble on the ground. Even before the person had a chance to fall to its back, Alicia directed her attention to the girl, instantly gripping both her wrists and attempted to pull her away from what seemed to be the driver’s seat leaning in and crushing her legs to keep her immobile.

After almost a minute of attempt, the blonde shouted an unheard string of words before Alicia knew what she was warning her about.

_Seriously, can’t this fucker die?!_

Alicia instinctively lets go of the girl’s wrists, which made her plummet to her back from all the strength she used to pull the blonde out. Before she had the chance to crawl back, the man was already at her feet, purposely tripping down towards her shoulders. With a slick of luck, Alicia’s hands found themselves holding back the monster from the shoulders, the blood dripping down from its chin transporting to Alicia’s cheeks. She turned her head to avoid most of the spilling bombs of thick liquid that temporarily blinds her, but her arms were starting to feel like noodles from the attempt of pulling the blonde out and the man used the advantage to slowly advance towards Alicia’s exposed skin. While mustering all her strength she had left, she grunted from the pain traveling through her arms from the weight of the man: he was starting to feel like a truck. He was already _so_ close to her neck.

Before a leg kicked the man’s side sending it rolling beside Alicia.

The blonde managed to get free with…a fire axe in hand? Wouldn’t really question it right now; she saved Alicia from getting eaten.

The man was about to roll on its back until it was greeted with a sickening gush on the forehead from the axe of the blonde’s. It clenched onto the blade of the axe, sputtering rotten blood that dyed its edge. With a foot connected on its torso, the blonde pulled at the axe until it was released from the man’s head, achieving a stomach-turning _crack_ from the skull. The deceased man plopped to its back, convincingly seeming dead as a pool of black-ish red liquid surrounded the perimeter of the man’s head. Alicia barely was able to stifle a barf.

After breathing in some long exhales with a bent position, the blonde’s attention went towards Alicia, her mouth open to capture more necessary air and quickly spoke within a breath, “Are you okay?” She asked, sporting a raspy, low, accent. Australian?

Alicia could see the woman sported blue eyes with a scar on the left side of her lip that ran down almost to her chin. Her hair was surprisingly clean and was sculpted into a spikey, side-swept style. Some black ink peeked out of her sleeve, but Alicia isn’t sure if she saw that right since it was only a glimpse before it receded back out of sight.

Alicia just stared back as an answer, not seemingly convinced at what just happened as she was still in the state of shell-shock.

The fear was evident in Alicia’s eyes that the woman didn’t need a voice to answer, and cautiously progressed towards Alicia with a friendly hand reaching out.

When Alicia didn’t immediately take it, the Australian carefully spoke, “I don’t bite.”

She still didn’t seem influenced by her friendly act, and when the blonde realized that, her hand flopped down to her sides with pursed lips, head hanging down.

Alicia was propped up with her elbows and knees bent, her frame unmistakably shaking. She and the blonde woman stared at each other for a minute, oddly calming the brunette down with her blue eyes.

When Alicia’s breathing started to become steady, the stranger gave out a long sigh, dropping the fire axe to the side and turning away from the brunette to bend down and prop herself up on her knees momentarily.

When she straightened again, she met green eyes. “Can I at least get a name from you? A word would seem nice at the moment.”

Knowing that Alicia would eventually speak, she held her stare, patiently waiting for an answer.

The brunette’s frame started to ease, seeming to find trust within the stranger. “I’m…” she started off weakly, but that caught the blonde’s attention as she cocked an eyebrow to urge her to go on. After clearing her throat, Alicia manages to pull off a casual voice. “I’m Alicia.”

The blonde’s eyebrows escalated higher, seemingly surprised that Alicia actually spoke. It took a moment for her to nod and twitch a friendly smile. “Alicia.” She tried out the name within her accent.

Alicia had to suppress an inappropriate smile by pursing her lips, but nodded at the blonde nonetheless.

Before twirling around to scan their surroundings, the blonde asked, “So, _Alicia_ , why are you out here?”

“I could ask the same to you, _person I don’t know_ ,” Alicia answered, managing to grip onto her usual sassy tone of voice before answering her question. “I came out to get medical supplies for my boyfriend.”

The stranger formed a fragile smirk before speaking, “Elyza. Elyza Lex.”

“Alicia. Alicia Clark,” the brunette introduced again, amusement swirling around in her eyes.

Elyza creates a raspy chuckle, making the effort again to lend a hand, “Well, it’s nice to know you have a last name.”

This time, Alicia accepts her generosity ( _hesitantly_ ) and could detect a curt smile from Elyza when she took her hand. It was rough and dry, like it hadn’t been touched in a while. Still, it was warm. When Alicia was at her feet again, Elyza lets go of her hand and picks up her axe again, transferring the swipes of blood on her sleeves to clean the blade. Alicia tried not to cringe at the sight.

“You say you were getting medical supplies?” Elyza states with her eyes locked onto her weapon.

“Yeah,” Alicia answers, still tingled by the events from minutes ago that caused her to awkwardly stand while clenching and unclenching her fists. “And?”

“I got some in my truck,” she plainly informs, finally meeting Alicia’s eyes, “you still have 2 and a half more miles to cover to find the nearest hospital. I could give some supplies to your doctor to save you some time.”

“Doctor?”

Elyza furrowed her eyebrows. “What, you don’t have one? How many of you are there?”

“Uh…two?” Alicia knew the answer, but she sounded uncertain. “For…now.”

“You and your boyfriend, correct?” Alicia nodded. “And none of you know how to treat a wound?” Alicia shook her head and Elyza sighed. “Well, I guess I have to tag along for a while.”

“What?”

“Do you have a problem with that?” Elyza questioned with a raised eyebrow, “I know how to treat a wound and I could help your boyfriend. Do you have any experience?”

“Not really,” Alicia admits, kind of embarrassed.

“Then, there’s no harm on me taking a little visit.” Elyza turned to her truck, going to the passenger’s side of the car to enter. “So, are you comfortable with that?”

“Sure, whatever. But how are we going to walking half a mile while carrying medical supplies?”

Elyza’s head poked out, giving Alicia a little evil smile. “That’s nothing to worry about.” She then vanished into the truck, leaving Alicia momentarily confused. After a little fishing for supplies, Elyza came out with a few blood bags in hand while her fire axe remained in her touch until she gave it to Alicia. “Here. Go around the neighborhood and find a car that still has its key’s inside and break the window. I’ll be waiting here.”

Alicia gave her a bewildered look and took the axe without question, but with a little hesitation. When the axe was weighed down on her hands, Elyza gave a quick smile before turning around and gathering more supplies within her truck.

Alicia huffs and holds the axe with both hands, roaming around the neighborhood to scavenge a car for the taking.

 

 

* * *

  

 

Alicia came back with a black SUV and spotted Elyza leaning on the upturned truck with crossed arms, and packs of…medical stuff resting in front of her feet. Alicia honked to get Elyza’s attention, waking the girl from her dazed position. The blonde started mustering as much supplies within her arms and jogged to the trunk of the stolen car, opening it while carelessly thrusting the supplies in. She did the same with the left over materials and knocked on the undamaged window of the passenger seat when she was finished packing. Instead of unlocking the door, Alicia rolled the window down.

“May I help you?” Alicia says with seriousness dominating her voice, but the perk of her eyebrows carried another emotion.

“You’re not the one to pick up hitch-hikers?” Elyza played on.

“You sound like it’s surprising to hear.”

“You can’t find the pity to pick up an abandoned traveler?”

Alicia scoffed. “You’re right: I do regret not picking up a stranger who could end up being a serial killer that might end up killing me while I drive them elsewhere.”

Elyza perked up an eyebrow, amused with the answer. “Are you always this feisty?”

Alicia answered with an eye roll, “The company I keep.”

Elyza gave a brisk chuckle and silence was introduced afterward. When the blonde waited for the sound signaling that the door was unlocked, her brows started to furrow when she saw the hesitation from the brunette’s eyes as it darted to the lock and Elyza. The blonde realizes that Alicia was stalling to find an answer if she’ll let her in or not, which was a little offensive since she saved the girl, offered her supplies and plans on saving her boyfriend, yet she hasn’t found the courage to build up trust and even suggests to choose the option to rob Elyza of her loot and leave her unarmed in the apocalypse.

“Are you going to let me in?” Elyza asks with crossed arms on top of the gap that the window left, leaving no trace of hope and desperation in her voice.

When Alicia bit her lip, Elyza seemed unfazed from the brunette’s uncertainty and was filled with patience for the girl.

Alicia’s trust is well-placed and strict upon who has it. Even when Elyza saved her life and she saved hers, belief that back-stabbing will not occur isn’t clear to her, especially when you’re in an apocalypse where distrust even lies within friends and families.

Well...based on the movies.

When Alicia didn’t reply, Elyza made her decisions easier for her. Her arms lifted from the door and she took steps back, going back to the trunk and opening it. Alicia was briefly confused until she heard the trunk closing with Elyza holding three packs of blood bags, morphine, splints, and bandages in hand.

Alicia stared at her for an explanation. “This was my loot,” Elyza answers, “I can’t come back to my people empty-handed.”

“Your people?”

“I have others with me,” she explains, “I came out to find medical supplies, like you. It’s for a guy that broke his ankle and future damages.”

“And you were willing to leave them to help me?”

Elyza shrugs. “They’re not the best people to be around with. Not until…”

There was a short amount of silence, but it was enough to fill Alicia with concern before Elyza continued. “Not until something happened within our group. But who cares about what happens to people in the apocalypse, right?” Elyza finishes with a humorless grin and a merry voice that held no happiness.

There was a slight pause. “You care,” Alicia says, “about others. You were willing to help me, right?”

“Did I hear a past tense in that sentence? I still am, but not without your trust.”

Alicia was taken aback from the girl’s respect and patience that she only spoke in silence. The blonde was willing to share her loot with a stranger and leave her group to help her, yet the brunette wouldn’t lend her trust. If this is all true, Elyza can make others second guess if there _are_ perfect people roaming around the Earth.

“How?” Alicia finally manages to speak, “How can you be so selfless? In a damn apocalypse?”

Elyza gave a sullen smirk before answering. “How can’t I? I’m not liking this ‘ _myself_ ’ person very much.”

Alicia scoffed, “Really? You preventing that guy from biting your neck doesn’t seem like you’d want to die any time soon.”

The blonde bit her lip in response, thinking throughout her planned words to see if it’ll cause any harm. After a while, her head tilted down, causing Alicia to huff and stiffly shake her head while turning her face the road with her hand on the top of the shift gear until Elyza finally decided.

“Because there was still you to protect.”

Alicia stiffened. Her hand placed above the shift gear trembled and the hand located on the steering wheel became white from her vicious grip. She so badly wanted to ask Elyza to repeat her answer, want her to clarify what she said, but a slow twirl from the head was her only gesture to tell the blonde to continue.

She left a gap before shrugging off the moment with the same tedious tone. “Cheesy. But true.”

When Alicia settled in by leaning back in her seat, Elyza started bouncing on the tip of her toes and swaying around, her playful mood infecting her again. “Soooo, can I come into the out now?” When Alicia only perked an eyebrow up, Elyza explained. “It’s a movie reference.”

Alicia only rolled her eyes before pressing a button that unlocked the doors, causing Elyza to grin for the first time. It made Alicia squeeze in a chuckle within her reply. “Get your ass in here.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

“Jesus, did a stampede come through here?” Elyza’s highlighted accent spoke, the sight of the disordered living room caused her eyes to enlarge. “A walker couldn’t have done _this_ alone.”

Alicia’s eyes were seated on the floors, avoiding any spot that was still drizzled with fresh blood that could dye to base of her shoes. “Walker?”

“You know,” Elyza starts, her eyes still wandering around the room with the medical supplies stuffed into her arms, “the weird, inhumane people. The guy I rammed into that tried killing us both.”

“The one with the blue tie?”

“No, the guy that tried killing us both,” the blonde sarcastically replies, “who else did we run into?”

Alicia allowed a smirk to enter. “Well I don’t know about you, but I ran into a bitchy blonde today.”

“Sounds enchanting,” Elyza mumbled after a silent break, causing a chuckle from the brunette when she realized she wasn’t supposed to hear it.

Then she heard a series of aggressive coughing.

Both the girls stopped dead in their tracks, their heads snapping to the door of the bedroom in identical timing to clarify if they heard what they actually heard. Elyza masked a face that plastered surprise and disgust, while Alicia’s screamed with disbelief, concern, and terror.

Alicia heard a hitch of breath behind the doors and didn’t think twice before running through broken fragments towards the source of coughs. She heard Elyza call out to her, but she never gave the option of stopping a second chance when her shoulder rammed through the door while her hand swiftly twisted the knob.

She found Matt in a fit of seizures, his throat sore and wounded from the ripe coughs that could be heard outside the house. His entire form shook the bed with his eyes rolled to the back of his head and Alicia could spot the slightest tint of red soaked in the covers that rested near his mouth.

“ _Matt!”_ Alicia shrieked, smoothly leaping onto the bed as she darted to his side. Matt’s eyes returned to his front and stared at his girlfriend, eyes pleading for help when a dribble of red liquid traveled on his bottom lip. He tried to speak but only managed to inhale a hefty breath before blood clogged his throat that automatically caused him to sputter them out. Alicia tried controlling his overpowering shaking by squeezing his shoulders down to the bed.

Alicia could hear mounting footsteps behind her and looked back to meet frightened eyes for a brief moment until the blonde came rushing to Matt’s other side.

“Quick, get him to his side; the last thing we need is for him to suffocate on his own blood,” Elyza quickly commands, already doing what she spoke.

“The last thing _we_ need is from him to suffocate on anything,” Alicia instantly replies, quickly turning him to the direction Elyza was pushing him.

When he was situated onto the right position, his coughing diametrically softens. As soon as a little coughing fit passed, he greedily gulps down air, automatically making Elyza move to quickly settle down a tissue paper beside his mouth to catch any drooling blood.

Matt’s breath was heavy, and Elyza establishes two digits on his throat, gently pressing down to search any lumps. When she didn’t feel anything, she places Matt’s arm to his face, the back of his hand pressing against his cheek. Elyza reached down to his calf while still holding his hand and rolled his leg towards her, the action seemingly relaxing the boy. From the new position, Matt’s coughs muffled into silence, his nostrils flaring while he tries spitting out leftover blood away from the tissue’s range. Elyza looks at Alicia, asking if she could hold his hand in place while she rummages through supplies. Alicia took Matt’s hand and Elyza slipped away, searching the hallways for the dropped materials.

When Elyza left, Matt spoke in a rusty throat. “Who is she?”

“She’s a girl that helped me and offered to help you.” Alicia quickly summarizes and keeps his hand on his cheek. When she felt Matt trying to slip away from her grip, she tightened hers. “Stop moving; you have to stay in this position.”

“How would you know?” he whines, the position already feeling uncomfortable.

“I wouldn’t but I’m hoping it is. She’s a doctor after all.”

“You’re putting so much faith to a person you consider a stranger. Why?”

Alicia irritatingly sighs, already annoyed by the questions. “She’s willing to help you, and that’s all that matters if that means you don’t end up dead.”

“But—”

“ _Matt_ ,” she injects rather impatiently, “please just trust her. If not, then trust _me_ on this. I’m not experienced in healing and I doubt that I could save your ass in these types of situations. All we have is her to rely on and just hope that she doesn’t betray us.”

Coming from the silence that followed after, Alicia won this argument and was confirmed when Matt finally sighed and weakly nodded, whispering an “ _okay_ ” before a squeak from the door interrupted a future quarrel.

Elyza came back with bandages in hand and positioned herself in her past spot, crumpling the tissue paper next to his mouth when she realize there was no more blood to spill.

“I think it’s safe for him to turn to his back again,” Elyza informs, earning cocked eyebrows from Matt from hearing her accent. Elyza manages to bite back a smirk. “His seizure subsided, but just to be safe, he should sit up to prevent any blood clogging his throat that’ll trigger another one.”

Alicia nodded and both girls gripped Matt’s arm, helping him to rest his back on the headboard of his bed while grunting in the process from the boy’s weight. As soon as they pulled back, Alicia saw Elyza froze in her place in the corner of her eye.

Alicia looked at her as saw that Elyza was staring into the splotch of dry blood on Matt’s shirt that indicated a wound beneath the fabric. The fear within her blue eyes was signifying that the blonde had dealt with these types of wounds before.

Alicia just hopes that the outcome didn’t end up with Matt dead.

“What?” she asked, terrified and impatient for the blonde’s answer. “Is it that bad? Can we fix it?”

Every second of silent from the blonde made Alicia fear the worst, petrified for her boyfriend when the stillness from Elyza directs to an answer she feared to hear.

“I…” Elyza stuttered in a mumble, but it sent Alicia gripping on the bedsheets, itching for an answer. “I don’t think we can.”

“What do you mean?” Alicia stammered, demanding another answer. She knew what was coming, but physically hearing it sent the brunette’s guts twisting. “What do you mean we can’t fix it? I-it just needs patching, right? We have bandages, w-w-we could do it. We have blood, bandages, morphine; we have everything we need to fix this! W-we just…”

Her rant lowered into silence when she ran out of excuses to fuel her hope and the fact that Elyza didn’t seem to be listening to her. Elyza’s hand was hesitantly pulling at the collar of Matt’s shirt when Alicia was in the middle of her rant, pulling it down to reveal the wound she fears to think.

Elyza lets out a shaky breath and Alicia was petrified from the size of the damaged skin.

The perimeter of the wound was traced with a gigantic teeth bite; the skin around it was colored red and was splattered with orange splotches. In the middle, his skin engraved a deep cut that exposed his damaged muscles, the tissues still oozing from the swollen area. His skin seemed to stretch like someone tried ripping it off and Alicia had the urge to barf while Elyza had a look of agony.

“It’s…Matt, right?” Elyza said with an uneasy voice, her voice barely above a whisper. When Matt curtly nodded, the blonde held a breath before asking. “How did you get this wound?”

Alicia fully knows that Elyza already had the answer and didn’t need clarifying from the lack of curiosity in her voice.

There was a dramatic pause before Matt answered. “I was bit by something.”

 

 

* * *

  

 

Alicia stood next to the door, her eyes filled with concern as she watched her boyfriend’s chest rising and falling. He stayed above the sheets, fully exposed to the cold but it didn’t seem to mind him while his limbs were sprawled to the tip of his bed, his hand drooping down at the edges.

_“What does this mean? He was bit, so what? We could patch him up and inject some medicine and he’ll be fine, right?! It’s only a flesh wound; he’s not going to die from it!”_

Alicia ran through her previous conversations in her mind, almost memorizing every word by heart from the limitless repeats she invested in. A chill in her spine crawled up when she came to Elyza’s words.

“ _You’re right, he will not_ die _from the flesh wound but he will die from something else.”_

She gritted her teeth from the recent memories, tapping her fingers on her forearms before leaving Matt to have his privacy. When she entered the living room, she was met with tired eyes.

Elyza situated herself on the couch, seeming tired from cleaning the living room since it had less broken glass covering the area. Her leg swung over the other and her arms were crossed while she blankly stared at Alicia, who returned the gaze.

When the bedroom door closed, Elyza untangled her legs and gave a long sigh, slumping down in the couch at the process before speaking. “So, did you and your boyfriend have a little bonding session about how heroic I was?” It sounded like a cocky sentence, but Elyza didn’t hold any smug in her voice; only sadness.

Alicia huffed, realizing that Elyza eavesdropped on her’s and Matt’s conversation about their distrusts on the blonde. She leaned on the door-frame with crossed arms.

“So, you’ve heard?”

“The door was open.” Elyza started fiddling with her index fingers. “Plus, the living room isn’t that far from the bedroom. I practically heard every word; at least from you.”

Alicia rolled her eyes and answered the blonde’s previous question. “No. We had a bonding session about how fucked up you are.”

Alicia couldn’t tell if she detected a ghostly smile from the blonde—it was hard to uncover. But nonetheless, Elyza’s eyes darted to her forearm and changed the subject. “You’re hurt,” she bluntly states.

The brunette was temporarily confused until she remembered how she got it when she looked at the cut. “I was cleaning some shards. One cut me when I didn’t see it.”

Elyza slowly nodded, sliding on the couch and patting a spot next to her to tell Alicia to sit. “Sit down, let me patch you up.”

She didn’t argue and shuffled her way towards the open spot while Elyza scrummages at the pile of medical supplies she placed at a night stand next where she sits. Alicia plops down next to her and waits for Elyza to find the bandages.

It took her longer than she thought so Elyza strikes up a conversation. “You don’t have to do it.”

Alicia blows. “What?”

“With Matt,” Elyza replies calmly, finding the bandages and turning towards the brunette, “he can stay.”

“So you were planning to kick him out of his own house or worse; _kill_ him?” Alicia immediately shoots, “What the hell is wrong with you?”

“It’s too risky.”

“Nothing risky about keeping someone _sheltered_.”

“He’s bit, Alicia. He’s going to turn.”

“Like hell would you know that?”

“ _Because I’ve witnessed it_ ,” Elyza almost interrupts in gritted teeth, her hands clenching around the roll of bandages.

Alicia said nothing but compressed her fingers into her forearms, breathing out her anger and stiffening her form. She could feel Elyza staring at her, trying to connect their line of sights but she stayed stubborn and held her gaze to the floor, trying to find words to keep the argument alive. When Elyza shuffled towards her, drifting her hand over her forearm, she tensed, making the blonde’s hand retreat back to her lap almost immediately.

Elyza huffed, looking down at the roll of bandages and tapping it in her hands, biting at the corner of her lip. “I know it’s risky,” she cautiously says, “and I know that it’s not worth it. But we don’t have to do anything.”

At that, Alicia glanced at her. Seeing that her head was still hung low, she twisted her’s to alert the blonde that she was finally giving Elyza her full attention. She still played with the roll on her hands when she replied. “His last memories should be you. I’m not going to get in the way of that.”

Elyza lifted her head, portraying sadness and understanding in her eyes and Alicia couldn’t hold onto her bitterness for so long. She was sacrificing both their _lives_ just for Alicia to have a little happiness and relief. It’s insane how one could be so selfless.

Alicia managed to muffle a soft “ _thank you_ ” under her breath, but Elyza caught it and smiled, nodding. “If it isn’t too much to ask; may I stay here for tonight?” she queries, cautiously wrapping the bandage around the brunette’s arm while being alert for any sign of discomfort. “Or at least when your boyfriend is feeling okay?”

Alicia hid a smirk. “Don’t you have a group to look after?”

“They can survive without me.” It would’ve sounded convincing if Alicia didn’t catch the little ‘ _I hope so’_ under the blonde’s breath, but she didn’t comment on it.

“You can have the couch.”

“No. _You’re_ taking the couch.”

Alicia lifted an eyebrow. “But I’ll be in Matt’s bed.”

“With that bite on him, I’m not allowing it. Yes, I will allow him to stay here, but no, I will not let you go near him.” After Elyza was done tying the woven fabric around her forearm, she stood up. “I’ll be taking the armchair.”

“Wouldn’t that be uncomfortable?”

“Please, I find the floor itself more comfortable than an actual bed. I’ll take watch, you should get some rest.”

Alicia didn’t feel like arguing with her, because her weight felt like it tripled in numbers when she mentioned resting. Her eyelids started to droop and she didn’t have the energy to perform an eye roll, but instead, swung her legs onto the couch with her head settling on the armrest of the sofa.

“Yes, ma’am,” she answered with a mocking voice.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

 _“Alicia,”_ a faint whisper called out. But no one was…there? The room she was in wasn’t occupied with anything other than darkness. No furniture, no clouds, no sky, no light. But she wasn’t blinded by them, since she could see her hands perfectly clear and see her feet hovering over some invisible floor.

“ _Alicia,_ ” it calls out again, only a tad bit stronger. The brunette spins at her heels, but it seems like she isn’t moving at all. She tries to move, but it doesn’t seem like she’s progressing anything.

 _Bump. Bump. Bump._ It sounds like someone’s bumping into a door.

 _“Alicia,_ please _wake up.”_ Wake up? So, this _is_ a dream. That explains a lot.

“ _My god, are you_ this _much of a bloody sleeper? Fucking wake up!”_

 _Bump. Bump._ Bump _._

 _“Alicia!_ ” it calls out in a harsh whisper, making Alicia’s ears ring when it sailed through her ears. She opened her mouth to groan; finding out that she couldn’t process any sound at all. She tried again, but her words were covered in eerie silence. Even when she collapses her hands to her sides, a static of silence was that only thing that came.

Alicia waited for the voice to call out again, but it didn’t. What she had in return was an irritated growl and the feeling of a wet substance ghosting in her ear that got her to jolt up.

“What the—?!”

“ _Shh!_ ” Elyza clothed Alicia’s mouth with her hand and her pinky finger blocking her nostrils, muffling any other words that come after. “It’s Matt.”

The blonde’s pinky shifted down when she saw the brunette freeze from the mention of Matt, permitting Alicia to breathe. Here brows were furrowed in confusion and her eyes were enlarged from fear when she notices the blonde has contacted with the fire axe in her other hand. Elyza slowly retrieved her hand back, waiting for the flood of mixed emotions from the brunette to pass before continuing. Alicia started to stutter but was cut off from the sagging, rattling bedroom door that produced a _bang_.

The girl’s heads turned to it in identical timing, with Elyza being the one to shake off her dazed moment first. She slowly got up from her knees, the axe held firmly within her hand at her side when she advances towards the door.

When Alicia shifted from her position, Elyza sharply directed her head to her, giving her a look that screamed _“stay where you are._ ” Probably because Elyza had an axe in hand while Alicia has nothing, she obeyed and only sat up. Elyza stared at her a moment longer before progressing back to what she was doing.

As she closed the distance between the bedroom door and herself, her form started to bend while placing both hands on the axe.

_Thump, thump, thump, thump..._

CRASH!

The door was bashed down, creating an earsplitting bang that caused both the girls to wince and reveal dead eyes. Elyza didn’t have time to recover from the booming sound when she was pushed to the wall with a strident groan.

The grunting screams made Alicia presume that Elyza’s been bit and got her to hastily jump to her feet. She never developed even two steps until she was halted by the sight of Elyza growling from the amount of pressure the walker’s giving her as she wobblingly thrusts the handle of her axe on the walker’s neck. She snarled with gums exposed, almost like an animal as she created space from her and…

“ _Matt!?_ ”

The sudden shriek got the walker’s attention and Elyza took the advantage to cram her feet between their bodies and ram the sole of her foot to Matt’s stomach with enough force that his back connected to the wall behind him.

Just as Matt peeled himself off, Elyza roared and placed the handle of her axe back to his throat, slamming him back to his place.

“ _Elyza—!”_

“I’m not killing him,” Elyza scowls while pulling her axe upward to his jaw, forcing him on the tip of his toes. “But he has to go, he can’t stay.”

“But—”

“Are you bloody serious about arguing over this?!” Matt’s head manages to strip itself from the wall before Elyza’s axe thrusted it back, yelling over his raspy cries, “you want to keep him caged here, _with us_?!”

“He’ll die out there!”

“He’s already bloody dead, and _we’ll_ die if _we_ keep him in here!”

“I’m not throwing him away just because he turned into a monster!” Alicia rasps, a shield of water forming in her eyes. “You said that his last memories should be me. Why are you in between it all of the sudden?”

“ _His last memories are gone!_ ” Elyza said with a thunderous roar that made her throat go swollen. “All of his memories are gone! If you bleed out your heart for the undead, you bleed for _nothing_.”

Alicia stood there, with a broken soul and a shattered heart as the Elyza’s words started to seep in. Seeing no color in her boyfriend’s eyes busted a hole through her guts and seeing that he only holds hunger in them created a waterline within her cheek. She gritted her teeth, inhaling a shaky breath before her eyes were tinted scarlet, pursing her lips and tasting her salty tears. She exhales before looking at Elyza, the blonde’s snarl seeming to ease and her grip softening.

Her grip…softening?

Oh no.

Matt takes the advantage and lets out a hoarse growl before swinging his limp arm across Elyza’s stomach that created three parallel scars, causing the fire axe in her hand to plummet on the floor as she gasps a pained scream. A stream of rushing, fresh blood trickles down to the floor and creates an already massive pool within Elyza’s feet.

“Elyza!”

Alicia took a step only to reel back when Elyza’s bent position twisted and swiftly turned with an elbow jutting out, the joint linking with Matt’s jaw. It created a revolting crack and driven his head to a wall, seeming impassive from the ruthless move but grumbled a feral roar when struck. Elyza moves as if the colossal claw marks on her stomach was never there, her animalistic snarl coming back as she gripped onto a wine bottle from the nearest table and crunched the magnum across his cheek with a shouting grunt.

His head was directed to the direction of Alicia, her sudden presence immediately fills Matt with increasing hunger instead of anger. His battle to the death was forgotten when his feast was before him, taking an enthusiastic step before Elyza spun him around and was met with a feral, fury expression that the blonde’s eyes seemed to transition to red. She was blinded with madness.

Faster than lightning, Elyza injects the razor-sharp edges of the broken bottle within his head, rotten blood gushing onto the wall beside him. A stream of decayed liquid flowed through his head, filtering part of the bottle with blood as his mouth hung open to reveal surging fluid. Elyza stared into his eyes, watching the last of his pigment colors diminish with no empathy. But when his weight crashed onto the ground, she followed through. The agonizing pain within her stomach reached her senses and all else malfunctions as her body went limp.

When Alicia sensed Elyza’s legs wobbling, she darted to her side with her hands supporting her as an anchor, careful not to touch any of her wounds.

“Elyza?” the brunette says with a concerned, broken tone.

“Lay me down before I pass out,” the blonde instructed through gritted teeth, fighting for her consciousness.

Alicia only nodded and followed her order, leading her towards the sofa while taking a painful breath when they stepped over the body of Matt and forced a sob down when her toe brushed against his jeans. The arm that was swathed around her neck pulled her towards Elyza when the blonde seemed to sense her coming meltdown. Her other hand slipped through Alicia’s fingers that were stationed on her hip in a comforting matter, looking at her as if _she_ was the one in physical pain.

“Just a few more, Alicia,” Elyza informed with a strangled, concerned tone. Her weight lightened around the teenager as she carried more of her own weight to make it easier for the brunette, impressively cloaking her discomforting expressions from the traveling pain in her abdomen to lessen any worries.

Alicia permits a handful of tears to be exposed with her lungs automatically taking sharp inhales from her sobs, only nodding when she heard Elyza speak. The hand that was braided together with another hand tightened its grip, the blonde’s digits scraping against her own hip with her palm compressing onto the back of Alicia’s.

She felt the body weight of Elyza lifting from hers when the blonde launched herself on the couch. She cringed when Elyza landed on her front where the wound was, positive that it would’ve caused new waves of rippling pain even if the blonde tried to reduce the amount of emotion she has within her expressions. Elyza flipped her position, revealing crimson eyes with a scowl that exposed her gums. Her blood imprinted the couch which consumed some of the liquid, surely leaving a mark behind.

Alicia immediately jumps towards the medical supplies. “I-is there anything you need?” Her voice was fragile and shaky with her hands already scavenging on the materials even though she doesn’t know what to pick.

“A dry towel would be nice.” Her voice was so smothered and choked that her request wasn’t clear to Alicia, but she managed to grasp the word “ _towel_ ” and her eyes darted everywhere all at once immediately.

Her eyes settled at a rag that was hung within the kitchen when she hunted around the house and didn’t give any other thoughts a second chance when she dashed towards it. When she arrived back to the living room, Matt’s couch was almost _drenched_ in blood that it managed to generate minuscule ponds of fluid at carpet beneath it.

“Y-you’re losing too much blood,” Alicia weeps in panic when she ran towards the blonde who was practically choking on air. Her hands immediately went to compress the mammoth gash that oozed out a roaring stream of blood. When the palm of her hand barely touched the slashed skin, Elyza bellows a pained yelp that caused trickling tears and Alicia hesitated for only a moment before pushing in more force. Her eyes started to rapidly drop bombs of liquid on her hand when she was obligated to hear Elyza’s strained screams.

The blonde sealed her mouth shut with her hand to muffle any agony she expressed and used the other hand to top Alicia’s to double the pressure. The towel was soaked in blood within mere seconds and the bleeding slowed only within a smidgen. Elyza’s head rammed back to the couch when she was tempted to scream again, adding more weight on her hand while plunging her nose with her thumb to suppress them down. Alicia went searching for another towel and Elyza was forced to use two hands to curb the bleeding, the blonde only allowing grunts and groans through her gritted teeth.

“If you die, I swear to God—”

“I’m not planning on doing that just yet,” Elyza immediately retorts when she provided space between her palm and mouth to speak. Even though it caused additional torture in her abdomen, it was worth the words when she saw Alicia briefly chuckle despite what they were dealing with.

“You have to be so impudent in these types of situations?” Alicia tried playing along with a shaky voice.

“I’m never right with timing.”

“That sure wasn’t obvious.”

Elyza ignored the undulating stings that trekked in her stomach when she chuckled, getting Alicia to slightly force one out herself. Their moment went back to serious when Elyza had to cloak her mouth from making any sounds to attract attention.

“T-the bleeding….the bleeding’s stopping…”

Elyza smirked; the corner of her lip peeking out of her hand with her eyes half-lidded. “See? I’m not ready to leave you yet.”

Alicia chuckled as a drop of tear hung from the tip of her nose. “Are you seriously flirting with me when you’re literally bleeding out?”

“Again: I’m never right with timing,” Elyza chokes out, her grip tightening around the second drenched towel and Alicia’s hand before continuing, “and secondly: that wasn’t flirting.”

While the brunette softened her pressure against the blonde’s abdomen, she turned to Elyza. Her cheek was resting on the cushions with a hand secured around her mouth, eyebrows furrowed as her eyes were protected from her eyelids. Alicia’s eyebrows curled down, a look of concern within her face.

“I meant it,” Elyza spoke after a beat of silence, the words muffled from the blockage of her hand. She opened her eyes to find Alicia staring. “I’m also sorry for killing him.”

Alicia’s shoulders rose and quickly drooped down when she took in a shaky breath, a fresh new waterline drawn within her cheeks. She looked down at Elyza’s abdomen and choked out an uneven sigh, new shells of tears splattering over the blonde’s hand. She pursed her lips, watching her tears paint all over Elyza’s skin before filling in a gap of silence.

“The living are gone,” Alicia replied rather cold-heartedly, leaving her head down but gazed at Elyza. “The dead are hungry.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

After an eternity of attempting to impede the continuous flow of blood from Elyza’s gash, she quickly patched herself up with a roll of bandage given from Alicia when the flowing abruptly stopped. The brunette respected the blonde’s privacy for undressing to swathe the woven fabric around her torso, so she turned around. After mending herself, she restored lost blood from the help of several blood packs. Alicia has never experienced _that_ much of a severe wound that Elyza was given, but she was certain that it wasn’t a healthy option to move around that much when she’s in the beginning stage of the wound becoming a scar. Elyza looks like she could pass out at any moment every time she took even a step. After a little quarrel of who should rest in the sofa and who should take the armrest, it ended up with Alicia sleeping on the couch.

That is, if you can even _say_ that she was sleeping. She couldn’t sleep at all. Her main source of heat was her arms, or her _only_ source of heat. She could probably snatch a couple blankets, but she wasn’t prepared to enter Matt’s bedroom again. She probably will never be. Just thinking about him made a fresh new wave of tears sliding on the cushion of the couch and forced her to sniffle, seeing that she caught the attention of the blonde at the corner of her eyes.

Elyza’s rear was settled on the cushion with feet crossing one another over the armrests while her back settled from the other, arms crossed below her chest. Alicia couldn’t see her face quiet clearly but she imagines the blonde furrowing her eyebrows in concern.  The brunette was certain that Elyza thinks she’s asleep, since the room was completely dark and shadows casted on Alicia’s eyes, making it _look_ like she was asleep.

A shiver from Alicia immediately made the blonde sit up, her legs swerving over to the foot of the chair. Alicia furrowed her eyebrows and almost sat up when she saw the blonde slowly getting back to her feet, a painful inhale through gritted teeth when a hand shot to her stomach.

The concern in her blue eyes pierced through the darkness they were surrounded in when she looked at the brunette, seeming to spot wet lines crossing her cheek. Alicia was tempted to become an anchor for Elyza when she saw her limping towards Matt’s bedroom, but she remained still, wondering what the _fuck_ she was doing.

Elyza came to a halt when she was near the corpse of Matt’s body. Her hands started to twitch, looking like she was debating something. After a quick moment of silence, her form started to bend down painfully slow, with a hand to the stomach and a hand reaching out to Matt’s upper back. Alicia was confused and somehow touched by her action and she heard mumbling words.

“In peace, may you leave this shore,  
In love may you find the next,  
Safe passage in your travels, until our final journey to the ground.  
_May we meet again_.”

Her voice hinted that the lines were repeated sufficiently; not a lot of emotions were packed within them. But it affected Alicia, nevertheless. Seeing that the blonde cared for her boyfriend even if he didn’t seem to trust her was more than enough for Alicia to question Elyza’s past. She seemed too gentle with everyone, as if they were all made of glass and she was a bowling ball. Even with strangers who don’t seem too fond of her presence, she acts like her number one priority is to keep them unscathed. How does she know that? Well, Alicia was one of those strangers.

She’s second guessing her distrust, though.

A tear slipped unintentionally on Alicia’s cheeks, but she managed to restrain a sniffle. She pressed her arms to her torso more, raising her knees towards her chest for more warmth and bundle her arms around it. The changing positions caused a shifting sound that wound Elyza’s head towards her direction, seeming to come back to her senses when she saw a quivering body. She immediately sprung to her feet, the squint in her eyes indicating erupting pain, but she carried forward like she felt nothing. When Alicia noticed that Elyza was heading towards Matt’s bedroom, her eyes went wide from realization and she feared that it was noticeable through the dark. Her prediction was confirmed when she saw Elyza walk out with a bundle of blankets in hand. In spite of the detonating sadness she feels, she tried to stifle the grin she had and was forced to lower her head down when she couldn’t hold it in.

Soon enough, she felt warm wool clothing her body and Elyza’s legs were in her view, her body bending down as she spread the blanket around Alicia. The comforting heat made Alicia’s eyelids hefty, sleep finally swirling around her lists of needs. When Elyza soothed every wrinkle, she sat down on her ankles and balanced her body on her toes, protective eyes scanning Alicia’s face for some type of reaction. The brunette only smiled tenderly and one of her hands gripped the edge of the blanket to pull it below her eyes. Elyza chuckled; she couldn’t deny that Alicia was irresistibly adorable when she slept.

Alicia’s eyes were finally drifting away from their senses that she didn’t catch the sadness in Elyza’s eyes when she watched over her.

But what she managed to catch before she was guided into a slumber was Elyza’s woeful, low words:

“ _Reshop, Heda_.”

Alicia didn’t catch the sound of a door opening and closing.


	2. i know you're dying and all but do you want to have sex later on?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alicia finds herself alone in the house and decides to take matters into her own hands, but she didn't know that her simple decision would twist her being into someone she would describe as crazy and heartless.
> 
> Not long, her family finds her location, and so did another familiar face after that.  
> Her introduction wasn't handled in a friendly situation, though.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

>  
> 
> the underlined words are links to the people who can't really visualize stuff vividly like me.
> 
> (the zombie apocalypse and zombies are explained here, too, so)
> 
> EDIT 4/11: I FIXED THE LINKS

 

 

Alicia awakes with the penetration of silver rays seeping through her eyes. It only caused her to seal her eyes tighter and jerk the blanket over her head, groaning from her interrupted slumber.  The blanket didn’t do much of a barricade to shield her from the beams of daylight since the density of it was very slim and her need for sleeping was faltering. The brunette though, was stubborn and kept changing positions to find one that found her interest. They were all uncomfortable and Alicia finally submitted to the fact that she needed to get up.

Every movement caused a husky groan in her throat and she cracked a slick opening for her eyes, placing the crown of the blanket tucked under her chin. The light splashed across the brunette’s features, making her temporarily blind before tightly blinking to gain readjustments in her sights. Alicia grunted as she attempted to sit up, latching onto the blankets in her front. She squints, her eyelids still feeling heavy from the cause of exhaustion.

“Elyza?” she calls out within a yawn while stretching her arms.

She received no answer and started to scan the room when her sights were becoming vibrant again. There wasn’t anyone who was found in the armchair or anyone at the room at all.

“…Elyza..?”

Alicia knitted her eyebrows together, finding Elyza’s medical supplies in the same spot since yesterday and dried, impartially new blood that imprinted the carpet at the foot of the sofa. She couldn’t have been dreaming the whole incident. Unless…

What Alicia had thought about got an inadequate and atrocious smell that buzzed through her nose. She physically winced and clogged her nostrils, her palms shutting her lips sealed when the sent was so crushingly powerful, she could’ve tasted the odor within her tongue. She tried tracking the gruesome smell and the source was Matt’s body.

Inhospitable flies flocked the decaying flesh with tickling buzzes cruising against Alicia’s ears. The body was sheltered with moldy brown skin that was engulfed by molted holes, a sluggish river of murky blood still thriving from his head. The wine bottle that pierced his head was littered with fragments of decomposed, impaled brains and was recolored in obscured, scuffed red blood.

Alicia inhaled a sharp, disoriented breath and quickly averted her eyes somewhere else before she was going to vomit. She felt no sorrow: only disgust and fear.

Matt’s death had passed within a blink of an eye that she never had the time to grief over his death. His murder was explainable and the last time they’ve held eye contact, Matt showed nothing more than hunger (and not the good kind.) She always wondered why she had less tears to shed than what she had expected from his passing, but she was grateful for that. Sorrow would only kill her in the start of the apocalypse.

She quickly drew a breath before binding herself with the blanket, a fist full of silk still linked within her touch when she congested her nose.

“Elyza?” she called out again, but in a more unstable tone. Her feet lumbered across the carpet with a pool of cloth surveying behind her, feeling convinced that the blonde left in the middle of the night.

 _“_ _If it isn’t too much to ask; may I stay here for tonight?”_

_“Don’t you have a group to look after?”_

_“They can survive without me…I hope so.”_

The memory caused Alicia to unconsciously clench her fist. She mentally slapped herself for reminding the blonde she had a group to tend, regret packing in her stomach when the thought of never encountering Elyza again came ramming against Alicia that she actually snapped her head up.

Elyza could simply lay down her life when told so, whether for an enemy or friend, and it worried Alicia. She’s too generous that it’s becoming suspicious. Not the “they’re-a-bad-guy-disguised-as-a-good-guy” kind of suspicion, but the “something-happened-in-the-past-that-changed-the-way-that-person-is” kind of vibe. She mentioned something happened within their group…it’s most likely that.

The brutally strong smell encountering her nose acquired Alicia back to reality, crushing her nostrils together when she noticed her grip loosened against it. She shook off her fazed state before cruising towards the kitchen, heaving a drawer to expose the contents inside.

She was tentative on achieving the matchbox but ultimately taking it, sliding the cover off to display numerous matches before hobbling towards Matt’s body.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Alicia watched with overpowering sadness filling her when the remains of her boyfriend’s corpse evaporated within the flames. She readjusted her position so that the blanket could devour the bare skin below her chin while else hugging her knees. Tears slipped in unintentionally when the fire consumed enough flesh of Matt’s body that his head seceded from his neck, a wave of new, thick blood spilled from the fresh hole. Alicia buried her face within her knees, struggling to control an upsurge of sniffles.

Within sheer minutes of lenient sobbing, Alicia could’ve sworn she could feel vaporous arms around her shoulder, along with imperceptible, distant whispers supplying her thoughts. Her cries only barricaded her from the inaudible murmurs, only capable of catching a few words.

But what an affect did those words do.

Three words caught Alicia’s attention, her head lifted with no hurry as her scarlet eyes were perceptible with tidelines coursing through her cheeks. She felt the ghostly comfort vanish when her head escalated, the whispers now departing in silence.

Her eyes were half lidded with the heavy feeling inside her chest now absent when the relics of Matt’s body succumbed to the fire’s delight satisfaction. Eyes now dry with a growing heart of stone, she watched with the lack of reaction, replaying the ghostly words within her head:

_Love is weakness._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Within the hours, Matt’s remnants were no longer present but Alicia stayed stationary in her place, vacantly plowing her gaze into the spot where her boyfriend used to lay. Her cheeks were sticky and cold, the crimson dye leaving the surface of her eyes. She felt numb, and it equally sickened and delighted her.

It sickened her that she didn’t pour all of her bundled emotions to a boy she loved. That she didn’t mourn the way she thought she would.

But it delighted her that she didn’t have to feel weak over it. It delighted her that she at least felt something that wasn’t sorrow. It reminded her that she still held some type of emotion.

Alicia dropped her gaze to the ground, producing a longing sigh before bashing fists created a troupe of thumping at the front door. Alicia flinched, already predicting who was at the entrance.

 _Elyza?_ The thought got her to form a slow-processing smile.

“Alicia? Are you in there?” A voice called out. But it wasn’t female, to Alicia’s disappointment. “Alicia…Alicia, it’s me! Open the door if you’re in there, I wouldn’t want to bust in!”

“Nick?” she questioned allowed, blunderingly getting to her feet. “ _We_?”

Nick barely caught her voice through the wooden door. “Alicia? Alicia, is that you? Can you get the door?”

“Yeah hold on, I’m coming, j-just give me a second.” Adjusting the blanket on her shoulders, she strides towards the door with her hands tucked beneath the silk, keeping it in place within one hand while the other reached out for the door knob when it was within her reach.

Alicia unlocked the door but before she could open it, Nick busted in with her mother and Travis following suit. She had to back some steps so the door couldn’t hit her.

“Wh—”

“Alicia!” her mother said within a sigh of relief, suddenly launching herself towards her daughter. “Where have you been? We’ve been looking everywhere!”

Alicia lifted a hand to pull her mother’s wrist when she cupped her cheeks, annoyed but touched with her worry. “I’m fine, mom,” she quickly replied, the lie naturally spilling from her tongue, “I just stayed at Matt’s for a while. I found him…sick.”

“Sick?” Travis questioned with his attention now on Alicia, taking his sight off the ruined house. “As in…?”

Alicia swallowed, her throat coming dry but appeared with a static expression. “As in… _sick,_ sick…I guess...”

“Like that guy from that video sick?” Nick butted in, feeling drawn to this conversation while ignoring the thick tension that was there.

The glare from Alicia was an enough of an answer.

“What?” Travis’ disbelief was evident through his voice. “How, where is he?”

“Burned,” Alicia simply answered with her head down. “He’s dead.”

Alicia’s voice cracked at the word _dead_ and Madison instantly laid a comforting hand on her shoulder, feeling a slight bump within her forearm when she slid her hand down.

“How did—”

“Alicia,” Madison interrupted, sounding like she’s lost in thought, “what’s this?”

“What’s what?”

“This.” Madison’s hand circled the perimeter of the bandage. “What happened?”

“I got cut.”

“You got cut?”

“By a shard,” Alicia almost interfered with a forced voice, “I was cleaning some of the glass and I didn’t see one. I’m fine, look,” She lets go one end of the blanket, revealing the bandage. “Satisfied?”

Her family gave a suspicious look at the binding, the longing silence starting to drift to uncomfortable and Alicia fidgeted in where she stands, purposely coughing to get their attentions back.

Travis, with his hands placed on his hips and a doubtful look hanging in his eyes spoke up. “Did you do that yourself?”

Alicia stalled, not sure whether to keep Elyza a secret or not. “Why?”

“Because the bandage is too high up for you to do it yourself, Matt was sick so he couldn’t help you do this, and it looks professionally wrapped.”

“How can you tell the difference between professional wrapping and amateurish wrapping?” Alicia sassed with a supplementary cocked eyebrow. “Are you some kind of person who investigates on how people bundle—?”

“ _Alicia_ ,” her mother sternly disrupts, throwing a warning glare at her daughter.

Alicia and Madison had a quick staring contest before the said teen sighed, seeing that she had no choice. “Some girl helped me.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“She _what_?” Nick whispered in a harsh matter after receiving new information, his position hunched over for silence to be more effective so that their parents wouldn’t hear them across the hallways.

Alicia had spilled only some amount of information to her parents, knowing that they wouldn’t be very fond of Elyza’s incident with Matt but spilled a smidgen more with her brother: how they met and the true reason of Matt’s death.

“Don’t tell this to anyone,” Alicia snarled in warning, “especially mom.”

“Why not?”

“They’ll start lecturing me about how dangerous strangers are, and you _know_ how long their lectures last.”

“But she _does_ sound dangerous, Alicia.”

The teen leaned back with exasperated hands and an eye-roll. “ _That’s_ what I want to avoid,” she replies, gesturing to her brother, “she saved me, all right?”

“But—”

“ _Twice._ ”

“Okay, I get that,” Nick says with a hand up, stopping any more interruptions. “But _seriously_? This is the start of the apocalypse, and that girl sounds like she’s been in one even _before_ it started.”

“So?”

Nick flailed his hands up, looking at his sister like she was the most oblivious person alive. “So?! So she’s not _just_ dangerous, she’s _deadly_ : what if all of this was an act to backstab you then?”

“Would she act out leaving her own group, sharing her supplies, and saving my ass twice _just_ to kill _me_ : a girl who has no loot and could barely survive on her own?”

“The movies did it!” Alicia scoffed at that and Nick whacked her shoulder. “I’m serious; they predicted a virus spreading. Anything is possible at this point.”

“Okay, but _again_ : looting someone who has nothing on them? Isn’t that kind of rubbish?”

“Yeah, _but again_ ,” he repeats, getting Alicia to groan, “anything is possible at this point. She probably likes to commit genocide.”

“Your reasoning isn’t the exact term of _convincing_ , Nick.”

“But can you just think about it?” he almost shouts, his tongue coming out sharp at the word _think_ , “she killed one of those... _zombies_ like it was some daily exercise, from the way you described. Who has the guts to kill one of those things yet unless they were a mass murderer? We run _from_ danger, she runs _in_ danger.”

Alicia only rolled her eyes and scoffed, her arms entangled below her chest. “That sounds like her motto,” she replied nonchalantly.

“Alicia, I’m serious—”

“And you don’t think _I’m_ serious?”

“No, listen—”

“No, _you_ listen!”

“Will you at least let me finish my damn sentence?!”

“I just did!”

Parallel groans came from both siblings in identical timing with Nick’s back collapsing on the bed while Alicia tumbled face-first on the covers, both already done with the other’s shit.

Nick pinched the bridge of his nose, massaging it while generating an extended sigh, rubbing his face afterwards. Alicia planked, her face muffled into the sheets and she looked convincingly dead.

After moments of complete utter silence, Nick’s hand spattered back to the bed with a tired look on his face, pursing his lips before closing his eyes and weakly nodding. “Okay.”

This made Alicia turn her head to face Nick, her cheek on the mattress. “Okay?”

Nick shrugged. “I get it.”

“Do you _really_?”

He frustratingly sighed, tempted to yell again but forced his voice in a strangled, calm matter. “Alicia—”

_Click._

Whatever Nick was about to say was long forgotten as the siblings froze from the sound: Alicia’s eyebrows furrowing with Nick’s jaw still dangling from his disturbed sentence. Their parents never left: they were investigating Matt’s bedroom. Nick and Alicia stared at each other before attempting to locate the source of sound.

 _Creaaak_ …

It’s mostly likely the front door opening.

Nick scrambled to his feet, advancing towards the hallways while finding the nearest weapon in his proximity: a table lamp. Alicia followed suit, situating herself behind Nick while trying to sneak a peek above his shoulder.

Her lip hovered next to his ear, sounding impossibly quiet that she barely heard herself. “Who’s there?”

Nick never spared a glance towards his sister, still holding his current position with his upper-back leaned against the wall, white knuckles engraved in his hand as he clutched the handle of the lamp tighter. “I don’t know: I haven’t taken a peek yet,” he whispered equally quiet.

Just as he was about to, Travis appeared at the end of the hall with his own weapon in hand: some metal pole. He rounded a corner and seemed equally surprised to see the siblings at the other end.

 _“You heard it, too?”_ He mouthed to the pair and Alicia nodded. He bends his position that was similar to Nick’s at the other end of the corner that lead to the living room. “ _Did you see what it was?”_

 _“No,”_ Nick replied with an additional shake of his head.

Travis briefly peaked around the corner, his eyebrows furrowing before reeling his head back to its previous place when he saw a woman.

“ _Who was it?”_ Alicia mimed, addressing some words as audible harsh whispers to grab Travis’ attention.

Travis looked at her, his jaw bouncing before hesitantly shrugging. “ _I don’t know.”_

 _“Don’t know? Is it a zombie or not?”_ Nick pronounces, confused by Travis’ uncertainty. It’s easy to separate human from the undead, right?

“ _I-I’m not sure.”_

_“What do you mean?”_

The human-ish, female groan answered Alicia’s question. It was uncertain if this was an _extremely_ tired person or a freshly made walker.

 _“It looks like a person but acts like they’re dead,”_ Travis quickly explains, taking another peak at the woman and sighs in a shaky matter. _“I’m going for it.”_

Alicia wanted to protest, but she eventually ends up chewing her bottom lip than replying. Nick didn’t seem to mind either way in which this was going to end.

After a quick series of short puffs, Travis charged out of the shadows. Alicia and Nick whirled out of the corner as Travis hurtled towards…

_Blonde hair._

Elyza was slumped, her arms hugging her stomach as one was out stretched toward the corner of the sofa with an inhumane sound-ish groan. She was about to walking around the couch until heavy, surging footsteps got her head to perk up, revealing dark blotches of skin crowding around her eyes.

Before she could even process a sound, a heel speared itself on her stomach with an additional echo of a battle roar. The freshly new wound started to stretch open again with a tsunami of blistering blood roving inside Elyza. Her guts felt like they’ve been brutally rearranged and she thought for a second that she was actually impaled by a spear. Pain bundled up within her and deflated off her tongue with a blood-curling scream when the heel raked into her, hurling her back to the door of the entrance.

That was enough to knock her consciousness out of her body as her back started to slide down the door, but a metal handle curled around her throat, sending lights into her vision with strangled inhales. The pole was jabbed into the lowest point of her neck, elevating upwards to the base of her jaw and Elyza had to muster all of her faltering strength to stand on her toes, her heels hovering above the ground. Her feeble hands gripped the handle of the pole, but held no effort on pushing it back, already immensely weak from the kick.

 _“_ Elyza?!” a familiar voice yelled, causing Elyza’s eyes to enlarge. Her vision was flickering but she turned her head just slightly to find a gawking expression staring at her.

“Elyza?” Travis repeats quite softly and quickly backs up, sending the blonde woman plummeting to the floor with hacked gasps when the pole situating her left her throat.

Alicia acted rather immediately and dashed to the injured woman’s side but was too late to catch her. She started to panic when she saw Elyza having trouble breathing while the color of her face turned pale.

“ _No no no no no_ ,” the teen repeated softly, her hands hovering over Elyza’s body with an expression brimming with fright. “You’re going to be fine, you’re going to be fine, you’re going to be fine…”

Elyza replied with a jolting body, starting a stiff spasm as every breath she painfully inhales exhilarate the boiling sensation of her throbbing stomach. Even breathing felt like a torturous maze for Elyza.

Alicia hangs her hands above the blonde protectively, her concerned expression transitioning into a murderous glare when she stared at Travis. He looked shock with a tinge of regret evident in his eyes as his grip seemed to soften around the pole.

“What the fuck is wrong with you?” Alicia spat, her eyes boring into Travis’, “You couldn’t stop yourself after hitting her in the damn stomach?!”

“I…I didn’t…I-I just—”

“ _Get the fuck away from her!_ ” The teen immediately stood up from her squat position, making Travis whirl back his advanced step while he pulled the pole closer to his chest. “Don’t even touch her!”

“Alicia!” a voice bellowed, getting the said brunette’s attention.

Madison entered the scene and held a surprised, fatal glare at her daughter. Alicia seemed unfazed as she gave a returning snarl, her nose wrinkling while baring her teeth before turning back to Travis like her mother was the least of her problems.

Alicia had a hand outstretched behind her that was direct towards Elyza as if shielding her from the brunette’s step-father. As Alicia acted possessively protective, Nick came and took her previous spot with a comforting hand on Elyza’s shoulder.

“Is there anything you need?” Nick rambled, his voice a little shaky, “some water, a towel, bandages, anything?”

Elyza took a few pained breaths before she replied. “A w-warm c-compress… _ngh_ , a warm compress would be…nice.” Her message was strained and hard to get but Nick was already scrummaging to the kitchen when Elyza tried to pronounce “compress,” giving his mother a spare glance before entering the said area.

 

He returned soon enough with a drenched towel in hand, sliding back to his crouched position next to Elyza. Before she even instructed him on what to do, Nick gently positioned her so that she was lying against her back. He griped the base of her shirt, cautiously pulling it below her chest and revealed saturated bandages of dry blood. His eyes momentarily expanded before alternating to a glint of… _desire_.

Alicia bore her eyes at the back of Nick’s head when she sensed his hunger. It was an inappropriate time to think like this, is it fucking not? She glanced back at Travis before making her way next to Nick, a hand lying on Elyza’s forearm.

“Hey,” Alicia said in a soft voice, lightly squeezing her grip, “you’re going to be fine.” Elyza’s wheezes turned into tired-sounding pants within the past time, and Alicia thought that was a good sign.

The said blonde pulled a corner of her mouth into a smirk when her mouth was still gaped, looking at Alicia. “When am I ever okay?”

It sounded depressing, but the siblings softly laughed anyways with Nick biting his bottom lip from hearing Elyza’s accent in a less strained matter. He slid the towel above Elyza’s bandages, loosening his pressure on it when he heard Elyza suck in a breath through gritted teeth.

When Elyza realized it, her hand went above his and added more pressure herself. Alicia could feel Nick’s lopsided grin and elbowed his sides, a warning glare sent to him.

Elyza softly chuckled at the siblings, getting a worried look from Alicia since she knew it somehow pained the girl while getting a love-stricken grin from Nick. “I didn’t expect such a warm welcome,” she joked, sounding out of breath.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Elyza’s recovery was quicker than Alycia thought. Within minutes of pressing a towel on the wound, that seemed like the end of Elyza’s torture. Her color was quickly restored along with her strength, but she still held a limping walk. Seeing it made Nick bolt in action to uphold Elyza’s position, only for him to be dismissed with a gesture and a look that screamed “ _Really, Nick?”_ from Alicia.

They watched Elyza limp towards Travis, Alicia visibly tensing when she saw him tightening his grip around the pole.

Elyza saw too and backed a step, her elbows tucked in with palms open in surrender. “Um, hello,” she cautiously begins, trying to seem friendly. “Are you Alicia’s father?”

Travis only stared, glancing between Elyza and Alicia before softening his guard. “I’m…I’m not, actually. I’m her step-father.”

“Step-father?” Elyza repeats, sounding rather interested. Travis nodded and Elyza continued. “Well, from the looks of the previous events I guess you already know who I am, but allow me to have a proper introduction: My name is Elyza. I think we got off on the wrong…foot…” Alicia sniggered with a hand covering her mouth when she caught Elyza’s _“no pun intended”_ under her breath. Elyza looked at her from her shoulder and gave an amused smile before going back to continue her conversation. “I think we got on the wrong foot, Mr…?”

“Uh, Travis.” He surprised everyone by extending a hand first. “Travis Manawa.”

Elyza took it and briefly shook hands. “Mr. Manawa, I must say you have a lovely step-daughter,” she compliments. She then briefly paused, looking back at Nick. “And a handsome stepson.”

While Alicia blushed at the compliment and shyly rubbed her forearm, Nick wore his lopsided grin and ran his fingers through his hair. The girl, still looking down, nudged his shoulder and glared at him through her lashes. Elyza smothered a grin at the small quarrel.

Elyza and Travis let their hands fall to their sides, seeming in peace with one another. “Thank you,” he softly replies with a coy smile. “A-and I’m sorry for…for kicking you.”

Elyza shrugged like it was nothing, looking quite emotionless. “My fault for not having any manners. It could’ve gone differently if I knocked.”

They all nodded, chuckling from their identical agreements and giggling from Elyza’s attempt to look offended.

It died down when dwindling footsteps were made, the four finding Madison exiting the scene and re-entering Matt’s bedroom, leaving them confused when the door shuts.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

After having small, unimportant talks with Alicia’s step-father, Elyza ends their bonding session by dismissing Travis to go tend his fiancé. She soon starts feeling twinges of pain in her stomach and suggested resting on the armchair, only to get forced onto the sofa from the demanding siblings. The woman soon caves in with an amused chuckle, delighted by their generosity but a bit annoyed.

Alicia respects her space, settling a fair gap between them while situating herself on the armchair. Meanwhile, Nick seems like a clingy servant that loves being ordered around.

“Are you sure you don’t need anything?” Nick asks, “No water, no bandages, no blankets?”

Alicia gritted her teeth and frustratingly sighs, “Nick, you’ve asked her that probably for the millionth time.”

“What? It’s not like answers can’t change.”

Elyza snickered, entertained by Nick’s persistence. “A blanket would be nice, um…Nick, right?” He nodded. “Yeah, a blanket would be nice, thank you.”

The boy snapped his fingers, pointing an index finger at the Aussie. “You got it,” he says rather enthusiastically before heading towards another room.

The woman tenderly chuckled, adjusting her position on the couch so her calf rested on her opposite knee. The silence made time for Alicia to finally heed Elyza’s appearance.

She wore a knitted, loose gray [sweater](https://cdn1.thehunt.com/app/public/system/note_images/335956/note_preview/4b4d29bb1137b98852154d9e537d4462.png) that was rather too oversized. Elyza’s fingers were poking out of the sleeves with the foot of her sweater reaching down mid-thigh of her strapped, leather black [pants](http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NTU4WDU5MQ==/z/yyoAAOSwrklVG1TK/%24_35.JPG). Her blue and gray [socks](http://x.couver.us/images/socks/black_blue_striped_soccer_football_athletic_socks.jpg) shielding her feet while her navy blue, knitted loose [beanie](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/736x/55/53/b1/5553b15442695c02bf5c39328eb545d5.jpg) hung on her head, a golden gear wheel laced onto a string as a [necklace](https://img0.etsystatic.com/134/1/10615311/il_214x170.954881346_3sec.jpg).

She looked too much like a normal person that it made Alicia chuckle.

Elyza shifted her gaze to the brunette with a raised eyebrow. “What’s so funny?”

“It’s nothing, it’s just…you’re just dressed so casually, and with all the ruckus that’s going on...it’s just a little too stylish for an apocalypse.”

The blonde’s eyes rove to and fro around Alicia’s body, her eyebrow escalating higher. “If that’s the case then I’d probably be laughing at you right now, too.”

Alicia creased her eyebrows, looking down on what she was [wearing](http://www.peency.com/images/2015/08/26/alicia-clark-alycia.gif). A simple red shirt with a blue flannel enfolded on her waist that hid her short, ripped jeans. Additional mixture of bracelets on her left arm with converse shoes designed in blue flowers. It was the same thing she’s worn since yesterday.

The teen shrugged, keeping her head low. “I guess I just picture you differently than the others.”

Elyza hummed, thinking of another subject to discuss. “Your family seems nice.”

Alicia rolled her eyes with a scoff. “Ah, so is a kick to the stomach a family meeting ritual for you?” She heard a snort from the blonde and a tiny smile pulled at her lips.

“Better than my catastrophic family,” Elyza joked. Or so that’s what Alicia hoped. “But Travis is an okay guy, though your brother seems to take liking of worshiping my bloody ass. And I’m positive your mother isn’t too fond of me.”

“ _Tsk_. You got my brother accurately right, but I’m sure your opinions of my mom and Travis would change.”

“I barely know you guys, so I could at least get _some_ credit for getting one person descriptively right.”  

“You should stay here then,” Alicia smoothly invites, slumping on the armchair with crossed arms. “It’ll probably change the way you think about us.”

Elyza bends her neck so her head rested on the armrest of the sofa, tilting her head a little to gaze at Alicia. Her smile was gloomy and was barely a smile. It didn’t even look like she was smiling: it looked like a crooked straight line.

“You already have,” she replied with a voice barely above a whisper.

Her sadness was infecting Alicia, the brunette’s neutral frown arching a little more with a slight, ghostly movement to her eyebrows. “Then why did you leave me here?”

Elyza weakly shook her head, her delicate smile fading. “I couldn’t stay.”

“Bullshit,” Alicia almost interferes, her sadness turning into irritation. “Answer the damn question. Why did you leave?” It sounded more like a demand than a question.

“I’m just trying to protect—”

“I got the blankets!” Nick butts in, making Alicia flinch and Elyza clench her jaw.

Nick re-entered with a dumb grin on his face and a nest of blankets on one hand. Elyza gave a convincing tight smile towards his way and stretched her arm out. “Thank you, Nick.”

“It’s my pleasure to help,” he utters, handing the blanket. His eagerness got Elyza to laugh, but her grin didn’t go ear to ear. Either way, it influenced Nick to laugh along, a cocky smile going exposed.

Alicia scoffed when her brother made a move to bundle the blanket around Elyza’s shoulders to only get denied by a dismissing gesture. She smothered a smirk from Nick trying to recover his embarrassment.

After Nick situated himself on the arm of Alicia’s armchair, she fished out her phone from her back pocket that was occupied by tousled earphones attached to it. She entertained herself by unraveling the wires until she felt the chair slightly shake.

Searching for the cause, Alicia found Nick’s foot anchored on the carpet, his heel frantically bouncing that influenced the armchair to duplicate its beat. Looking up, she saw Nick eyeing Elyza like he was waiting for another order. He looked like an excited puppy.

The only difference was that it wasn’t at all cute.

Alicia nudged his arm with her elbow, offering a stern stare. “ _Will you stop that?_ ” she questioned in a harsh whisper.

Nick only dropped an eyebrow. “Stop what?”

“Stop acting like a love-stricken puppy; you’re worshiping her ass!”

“It’s not my fault that she’s hot.”

Alicia took a quick glance at Elyza. Her back was towards them with the blanket covering the areas below her collar, one arm provided as a pillow and one was above the blanket. Alicia couldn’t tell if she was sleeping or not, but she had a strong feeling that the girl was smirking.

“And it’s not _my_ fault that you have to be such a try-hard,” she comebacks, returning her gaze at her brother.

“A guy can dream!”

“But a guy can’t _force_ it to happen, you dipshit.”

“ _Psht,_ ” he spits within a bitter laugh, “so what, is that your excuse to be possessive all you want?”

“ _Possessive_?”

“Don’t act like I didn’t notice Al,” he drops in a whisper, “whenever I try to make a move, _you_ come along and cockblock me!”

“I had the right because you were thinking about it when she was _fucking injured!_ ”

“What about that time when she touched my hand and you actually _glared_ at me?”

“She was trying to put pressure on, not trying to flirt with you.”

“And what about that time where she called me ‘handsome’ and you jabbed your elbow at me?”

“She gave me a compliment too, so why would I be jealousy of your desperate ass? You were being too cocky anyways!”

“I’m always that cocky!”

“Doesn’t mean it’s not annoying all the time!”

“Oh _plea—”_

“Ladies, ladies,” Elyza groaned, looking at the siblings behind her shoulder, “ _Jesus,_ will you permit a girl to get some sleep?”

Both their jaws froze to where they were, their heads turning in identical timing to look at Elyza. Her eyes were squinted with furrowed brows, the strands of her hair standing out in a tiny frenzy.

The siblings furiously blushed, a furnace rising within their cheeks when they both looked everywhere other than Elyza and a hand sliding down from the back of their necks.

Alicia had the guts to talk first. “Uh…you…you’ve heard all of that?”

Elyza had a wicked grin, positioning herself so that she was lying on her back again. “You _are_ a lil’ bit possessive, ‘Lish.”

The brunette was suddenly bloodshot red, her head lowering to cover to blush before clearing her throat, surprised by the nickname. Alicia only flushed more when she heard Elyza laugh from her weak “ _oh_ ” reply.

A pool of blanket slid down to the blonde’s waist when she sat up, twisting her figure so that her feet were now on the ground. Her legs we spread and her back was hunched, elbows resting on her knees with an additional tilt to the head when she altered her attention to Nick, who squirmed in his place.

“So…” She starts, elongating the word, “tell me, Nick...” The said boy clenched his fists on his lap, eyes darting everywhere. Elyza smirked, leaning her figure towards him. “How ‘hot’ do you think I am?”

Nick abruptly laugh in nervousness, suddenly standing up which earned an extending smirk from the blonde. “I—I—I…I um…Alicia, do you know where the bathroom is?”

Alicia lifted her head, cocking an eyebrow at her brother. The urgency and plead in his eyes were so desperate, Alicia found herself processing a longing sigh before briefly slanting her head to the direction he’d go. He visibly relaxed, nodding in thanks before speedily strolling to the said direction, bestowing a raspy chuckle from Elyza.

Elyza, seeming satisfied, adjusted her beanie before intertwining her fingers of her [sweater hands](http://s8.favim.com/orig/72/cold-hands-human-sweater-Favim.com-672927.jpg) between her knees. Her crooked grin alternated to a sloping smile, turning back to Alicia.

Alicia chewed on her bottom lip, her head tilting down as if trying to look irritated. “Were you even asleep?”

“I don’t sleep,” she nonchalantly reveals, settling her back on the backrest of the couch before slumping down with crossed arms.

Alicia looked at her through her lashes, taking note of the identical lines thronging around Elyza’s eyes before shifting her gaze back to her phone. “I can see that.”

Elyza huffs a chuckle. “It’s a perk you’ll learn when you’re the baby sitter of 10 people.”

Alicia stopped playing with her phone, raising her eyebrows and looked at Elyza. “You know, you never told me about your group. Who’s in it?”

“Oh. Well, for starters, there used to be 11 people in the group. Until ‘ _The Incident_ ’ happened,” she starts, putting air quotes around “the incident” while pronouncing it in a weird voice. “And…we’re kind of…the reason all…” Elyza gestured to everything with a flick of her wrist, “this happened.”

At that, Alicia widened her eyes but stayed quiet for an explanation.

“Well, not…really, _but_ , I guess we were kind of a big help. So, you see, my father and my mum are both scientists. They’ve been studying this thing called…Toxo….Toxopla— _Toxoplas_ …ma…gon..gondii?” She paused for a while. “ _Toxoplasma gondii!_ Yeah! There we go.”

Elyza looked so proud of herself that it caused Alicia to chuckle.

“Anyways, they’ve been studying this thing called _Toxoplasma gondii_. It’s a parasite that infects the rat’s brains, as I’ve heard. It controls them so instead of running _away_ from cats, they run _to_ them, passing on the disease. The virus makes them attracted to the scent of cats, so I think whenever a cat is near, they’ll purposely expose themselves. It wasn’t a threat for a while, millions of people already had it before all of this happened: they just didn’t know it. I guess to put it in simpler terms; the virus wasn’t too big to infect the human brain activity.

But, as my father has learned, the virus had been here ever since the beginning of time, infecting rats and shit. Throughout the times, the virus has evolved: even big enough to infect a human brain. My father discovered this when he’s been running some tests on a feral cat. The virus was _huge_ and they ended up caging the poor devil so that it wouldn’t spread it. My dad knew that there are more cats out there that have the virus as big like the one they’ve locked, so he was planning on warning everyone.

His lab partners, including my mum, didn’t want to attract any attention to an apocalypse that _might’ve_ not happened, but they also didn’t want an apocalypse to happen. So, they voted on a human test subject. I remember him: Subject 172, the bloody devil. He said he didn’t believe in a zombie apocalypse, and he gladly volunteered to prove them wrong.

So, when the things were all set up, my father tried to get the cat’s DNA…but…”

Elyza’s voice faltered with her fingers lightly trembling, looking lost in thought. She took a shaking, uneven sigh before her digits started to rake across her forearms.

Alicia noticed and Elyza’s previous words came to mind.

_“Not until…not until something happened within our group.”_

Alicia immediately took action. “It’s okay. You don’t have to explain more, I get the drift. You could skip over what happened, if you want. I wouldn’t mind either way.”

Elyza’s eyes shifted over to her, offering a ghostly smirk as thanks before pulling her ankle on her inversed knee, continuing like nothing happened.

“So, to get the virus, you were either bitten by an infected feral cat, or bitten by an infected _person_ : you’ll transform differently depending on how you get the disease. Getting the virus from a cat could result in a 5 hour transformation until fully infected. Being infected by a diseased person is a little less pleasant; you’ll die in the process then revive as an undead. You’ll eventually die anyways if you live through the bite if you do, but it’ll probably take hours, days, or maybe even months to fully form: depending on your physical level.

And Toxoplasma gondii isn’t just in America. It was worldwide. That means that somewhere, in another foreign country, the apocalypse already happened before it happened here; probably even before we’ve discovered that it was evolving.”

Alicia raised a brow. “So this whole thing started by either an infected immigrant or some guy that got the rabies?”

“How the apocalypse started? Yes. How it went to America? It was a guy that got the rabies.”

“Oh.” Alicia was silent for a moment until she remembered something. “Wait. You said that you’ll transform differently depending on how you get the disease. What do you mean by that?”

“Ah, so if you get bit by a feral cat: you’ll transform into this undernourished, canine thing. Your fingernails will grow faster than normal and you’ll have the temptation bite them when you haven’t eaten anything for a while. You’ll have the urge to walk on all your fours, grow some insanely sharp teeth, and you’ll have the ability to jump higher and fuckin’ climb bloody _walls_. Which is dope and all, but it’ll probably be a problem ‘cause they’re fast as _hell_. They’re weaker than humans: one shot anywhere in their bodies would do the trick; which is why they tend to travel in a group. Though their hearings are more sensitive than the walkers, they could probably hear a silenced pistol and a herd will go _crazy_. It’s best to avoid them though; even if they’re weak as fuck, they’re really hard to kill when they’re moving.

Getting bitten by a person? It’s less cool I guess, but that’s a relief. They’re really slow, but strong as hell. The movies covered the basic stuff: must be shot in the head, attracted to noise and bright things, and recklessly stupid. The ‘covering yourself in their guts’ thing is actually true, but you have to actually _act_ like one. Y’know, like limping, groaning, walking and all.”

“And what if you don’t do all of that? What if you just cover yourself in their guts?”

“They get suspicious and start to notice you’re not one of them, _especially_ if you’re running. They’re stupid, but rude enough to judge everyone’s acting.”

Alicia cringed. “Do you have to do the same with the ones who got the disease by a feral cat?”

“Luckily, no: they’re blind. But you have to stay still when you encounter one; they depend on tracking down movements for food.”

The brunette held a puff of air in her mouth and slowly releases it, leaning her temple down to her two digits before rubbing them from being overwhelmed by the overfilling information she’s been received. “Okay…so, is there anything else I need to know?”

Elyza lets a silenced gap squeeze in, running down ancient information through her head. After replaying data, she suddenly jolted her chin up. “Oh yeah! The Wendigoes need to be burned after killing it. It’ll take a couple days for it to revive again, but no need to do that for walkers: you only burn them to get rid of the smell. Luckily the Wendigoes don’t smell like anything.”

Alicia depresses an eyebrow. “I’m sorry, what? _Wendigoes_?”

“We have names for the two groups,” Elyza explains, “The people who were infected by the cats are called _Wendigoes_. The people who were infected by a person are called Walkers, Lurkers, Ghouls, or Crawlers. There are a bunch of names for them, but those are just the common ones.”

“Why do they have a bunch of names while the Wendigoes only have one?”

“Have you seen the media? ‘Zombies’ are more popular than Wendigoes, so they’ve been creating slangs ever since _this_ started. Mine’s better than all of their shitty remarks,” Elyza ends in a whine, her bottom lip jutting out in a pout while childishly crossing her arms.

Alicia chuckles; transitioning the blonde’s pout into a hidden smile. “Really? What’s yours?”

She snorts before giving the answer. “Wankers.”

That’s when Alicia lost it. Her lungs rendered a roaring laughter that got her guts hurting, a hand on her stomach and another on her mouth to smother her enjoyment. Her throat started to hurt and she started to wheeze, a bud of water forming at the corner of her eyes when her form fell on the floor.

After what seemed like hours, she had the forte to open an eye, finding Elyza suffocating her own laughter in a more controlled way with a hand to her stomach. The corners of her lips peeking from her palms as her eyes were filled with… _pain?_

That’s when Alicia remembered Elyza’s injuries and her laughing fit precipitously came to an end, already on her feet with worry in her eyes. The blonde’s been moving around like she never had a wound in the first place, professionally masking her pain and probably only allow a twitch of an eye. She’s probably been hiding it to cause any less worries to her. It at least _had_ to hurt a little when she bent over or sat up.

“Oh my god, are you all right?”

Alicia moved towards Elyza, her palms resting on the blonde’s shoulders. Her anxiety was at the peak when Elyza’s muffled laughter turned into fits on coughs, most likely raising her stomach’s pain.

Alicia started to lower Elyza to her back. “You need rest—”

“The pain’s nothing,” she retorts, easily slipping away from Alicia’s grip and stood up, making the brunette cringe. “And _you_ need rest.”

“What? You need it more than I do.”

“I don’t sleep, remember? I’ll keep watch while you sleep. It’s getting late.”

“Late?” The teen took regards to the nearest window, finding out that it was indeed getting dark.

Huh. Time flies by fast.

She could tell there was no point arguing over Elyza and was about to take the couch. Until a thought came to mind when she remembered what happened last time.

“Are you going to leave me again?” she asks in a soft, broken voice. Her eyebrows furrowed in a worried matter and she had desperation in her eyes, bothered by the thought of being separated again.

Alicia has been desperately looking for connection that wasn’t found in any of her relationships. Sure, she’s close to Nick, but their playful arguments are starting to turn into real ones as time flies. After Matt’s death, she’s been craving Elyza’s attention ever since. Her generosity has been like an addicting drug to Alicia; she never received that for a while, and it made her feel special again.

Elyza’s neutral furrowed brows softened, her face falling when she answered in silence. She only stared, seemingly sorry before situating herself on the armchair.

Alicia scoffed, flicking an arm up to express a “why” gesture before having it back to her side with dull plop. She mumbled a soft “whatever” before locating herself on the sofa, lifting the covers before settling and tucking it below her chin afterwards.

After Alicia rolled to her side, she spotted Elyza dumping herself on the armchair, an immediate uncomfortable expression on her face when she sat. She looked behind her and hovered over the chair a little while fishing out Alicia’s phone from the cushion.

Alicia furrowed her eyebrows when Elyza didn’t return her device back, seeing that the blonde was observing something from the screen.

“Is this you and Matt?” she asked after a while, turning the screen’s phone to Alicia’s direction for her to see. Alicia’s face softening was enough of an answer.

Her lock screen picture was a selfie of her and Matt, framed on a high angel with her boyfriend behind her shoulder as his puckered lips were connected with Alicia’s, the crook of Matt’s lips drawling up. She felt empty inside when she almost didn’t recognize herself in the picture; the Alicia there was happy: cheekbones popping with an illuminated grin. She seemed like a total stranger.

“Yeah, it is.” Her voice attempted a casual speech and she reached an arm out of the blanket to retrieve her phone back. Once she did, she immediately regretted it.

Elyza was about to hand Alicia her phone back, but froze when her arm was suddenly repelling from her reach. She was confused but saw inking on Alicia’s forearm that got her attention, the sadness in her eyes were evident on who did it.

“Did Matt do that?” Elyza asked, already knowing the answer. Before Alicia could respond, she continued on. “He’s a great artist, I’ll give him that.”

Alicia nodded. “He was,” she replies, hating how the past tense made her tongue dry. “I planned on making it an actual tattoo. I guess I can’t anymore. But um…do you have a pen on you by any chance?”

Elyza knew why she needed it and felt guilty not packing any. “No. Sorry.”

Alicia gave a sad smile, but remained her focus on the pageant. “Nothing to worry about: the ink was just fading away and I wanted to redo this. I even forgot I had this on me until now.” She left her attention away from the markings, looking at Elyza now. “Can I have my phone back now?”

The blonde nodded before briefly spinning the phone in mid-air, catching it and handing it back to Alicia.

“If you break my phone, I swear you’re paying for it,” Alicia mumbles with a poker face on, reclaiming the device again.

Elyza chuckled. “Do you seriously need a phone anymore in the middle of an outbreak?”

Alicia stared at the picture of her and Matt for a moment longer before shrugging, turning it off. “There could be service, you’ll never know.”

The older woman mumbled a “my god” under her breath and Alicia lightly laughed, pulling her knees to her chest and stretched the blankets as she pulled it towards the middle of her chest.

“Night, Elyza.” It’s probably been too long since she’d said her name.

Elyza gave a sloped smile. “Goodnight.”

The blonde got up to turn off a forgotten lamp, the darkness suddenly helping the brunette’s need for sleep. She heard ascending footsteps that turned muffled after her drowsiness cloaked her senses, unable to catch Elyza’s words.

“Lexa.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Shuffling jolted Alicia in her sleep, but made no obvious movements that she was awake. She was never the light sleeper, but her senses on instinct obligated her to being one, because who could properly sleep in a damn apocalypse?

Alicia’s sighted readjusted enough to find out that the armchair wasn’t occupied to anyone. She wasn’t surprised to see that, but was surprised to find that Elyza was at her feet in the corner of her eyes.

She couldn’t see her face properly and the shadows masked any features to give a hint on her expression. The blonde just idly stood there before her head hung down, a barely audible sigh escaping her lips. Her head then elevated.

“I’m sorry,” she quietly murmurs, not aware that the brunette was awake. “You’ll understand this someday.”

Alicia furrowed her eyebrows, trusting the shadows enough that it’ll cover any evidence of her emotions from the blonde. When Elyza was moving away, she knew that the woman was heading towards the door. Alicia couldn’t afford experiencing Elyza leaving her when she was fully conscious. She didn’t want to be left behind again.

“I’ve been waiting,” Alicia unintentionally blurts into a murmur, the sound of feet shuffling abruptly stopping. She was in this deep, so might as well finish her sentence. “For a person to come along that wouldn’t even dare to leave me.”

Silence. Eerie silence.

“I thought my search was done when I found Matt. I guess I was wrong.” Alicia pulled the blankets to her nose, coercing herself to continue. “I don’t like this scavenging game. I get my hopes too high up when I think I found the right person. It broke me three times already.”

Silence. Suffocating silence. Alicia just assumed the woman left without her noticing and a shield of tears formed.

But she heard a jingle of a doorknob, making the brunette physically flinch from the thought of Elyza leaving unaffected. She prepared herself for the sound of a door opening.

 _Click_.

Alicia’s eyes flew open, hearing approaching footsteps. Her head lifted to see Elyza rounding the corner of the sofa, the blonde kneeling slowly leaning down to meet eye-level with the brunette. She must’ve seen the glint in Alicia’s tears since she moved to cloak her thumb with the Alicia’s blankets, swiping some threatening tears that hung from her eyes.

“What happened to goodnight?” Elyza mumbled, continuing to clean the girl’s face. She spoke in a serious tone and Alicia could spot her poker face through the gloom.

She decided to answer seriously. “I knew you were going to leave so I waited until you did.”

“I’m doing this for your own good. I can’t stay.”

“And I’m doing this for _my_ own good, too. I don’t want to experience a fourth heart-break.”

Elyza’s hand stiffened on Alicia’s cheek, sucking a slow, uneven breath through her nostrils. She salvaged her arm back to her side, looking straight at Alicia.

She continues. “Can you please just stay here until I fall asleep? Please?”

Elyza chose to remain silent. Her eyes eventually wandered over to the window, seeming to weigh the options.

In the end, her lips pursed before she stiffly nodded.

“I’ll be here when you wake up.” Elyza allowed a soft smile to prickle her mouth when Alicia’s teeth flashed through the dimness. “Good night, Alicia.”

Alicia didn’t reply but victoriously smiled for a response, shuffling in her position as Elyza continued her way to the armchair.

She left her planned words in her head.

 

_“Goodnight, Ambassador.”_

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> little reminder that Alicia doesn't remember shit.
> 
> i just did that to fuck with myself/ya'll.


	3. don't throw off the emperor's groove

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The family (Nick) convinces Elyza to tag along their journey back to their home for their concern of being unarmed in the apocalypse.
> 
> They were caught in a little road block that made time for the majority of the family to think of how much Elyza is really sacrificing for them.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> title reference: walt disney movie - the emporer's new groove
> 
> bonding, fluff, humor, and many many australian slangs.
> 
> (i'm thinking of changing the title of the fic, btw.)
> 
> \-------
> 
> EDIT 4/12: nailed it ^
> 
> EDIT 4/24: i fixed some grammar stuff and added a link and some sentences. sorry for that, lmao
> 
> EDIT 5/5: added more sentences

 

 

 

The daylight beam wasn’t as intense as last time, but it was powerful enough to seep through Alicia’s eyelids, causing her need for sleep to flicker away. Eyebrows furrowed and as stubborn as ever, she answers with a readjusted position, tossing and turning quite a few times to try and find a spot to settle in.

It was a solid minute of tussling with the sheets until Alicia soothed fairly enough to hear a distant chuckle.

“Wow, aren’t you an animal in bed,” a woman comments, the words slurred in a raspy accent. Alicia jolts from hearing Elyza’s voice, suddenly awake. She actually stayed?

She turns to find her in the kitchen quarters, a forearm propped above a counter with a hand tucked inside her elbow as her side leaned against the stall, making her shoulder jut out. Her legs intersected and a slanted smile was proceeding on her lips, amused.

“Mornin’ beautiful. Slept well?” The stain of dark blotches grew in size around Elyza’s eyes, but she didn’t seem tired: she seemed giddy.

Alicia’s head was peering above the couch’s backrest and her head lowered down so Elyza couldn’t see her coy smile. “You actually stayed?” she questions instead, eluding Elyza’s question.

“You thought I’d leave?”

“You had a choice to.”

“That practically didn’t answer my question.”

“Well yeah, from the fact that you have…” Alicia’s further words were rattled out of her tongue, taken aback from Elyza’s different appearance when her head lifted up again. “…tattoos?”

The inking she saw peeking out of Elyza’s sleeve from the day they’ve met was revealed. Elyza wore a greased [spaghetti strapped tank top](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51a4CxFZB8L._SX342_.jpg), unmasking a partial left arm [tattoo](https://thechive.files.wordpress.com/2014/02/tattoo-sexy-29.jpg?quality=85&strip=info&w=500) that was plastered on her forearm: a white Siberian Tiger with white flowers scattering below it, ending on the wrists and a gigantic red rose and feathers were above the animal’s head that was on her upper arm. A black and grey dreamcatcher was on her right forearm, partially covered. Just below her right collarbone was a [tattoo](http://hative.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/03/collar-bone-tattoos/little-birds-collar-bone-4.jpeg) of three birds sitting on a branch that paraded pink leaves, the branch turning into swirls at the end that lead on to her right shoulder. The blonde modeled [short ripped jeans](https://encrypted-tbn1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcSCMJ-UG1B3hL70ZwOvnOETwTgj0e_JVLwgjJvp5eRZj_QvOe_g) that exposed a thigh [tattoo](http://41.media.tumblr.com/68c79dcdd6f580563ff484bb6c7c7117/tumblr_mhiyxhpGoY1s4xfvco1_500.jpg) that stretched just above her knee: crimson roses with green leaves and water-like tides acted as its steam that carried along a black crow. It seemed to reach her hipbone.

Alicia was practically raking through Elyza’s body without knowing she actually is, but the blonde only smirked; she liked seeing reactions like these. She barely shows enough skin to display her tattoos, and their feedback is always pleasing to the woman when they manage to find a slick of inking that slipped through her clothes, attracting their curiosity.

“Are you quite done browsing, Alicia?” Elyza speaks with a tinge of frivolity spoken in her tongue. She finds a corner of her lip pulling upward when the teen’s cheeks glowed, her jaw practically bobbing.

“Um…w-where did you get the clothes?” The brunette asks in a shy matter, her eyes shifting towards the older woman and back at her own lap. “Did you rummage through Matt’s closets or something?”

Elyza’s features softened, finding Alicia’s act all too endearing and adorable before shifting some of her weight in her other leg to even out her balance, removing herself from the counter. “No, I didn’t want to intrude: they’re probably all too big on me anyways. I just made a quick stop at my group to get some things and get your pen you’ve wanted. Speaking of…” Elyza’s chin anchored itself behind her shoulder while she reached down to her jean’s back pocket to pluck out the said pen.  “Here ye’ go.”

After briefly showing it in display, she tossed the pen to Alicia spinning in mid-air. Alicia was surprised by the sudden action that she barely caught it, the pen landing between her wrists instead of her palms.

 “I’m not certain if it has enough ink, but if it doesn’t, I’ll be sure to get you another one,” Elyza informs.

Taking off the cover, Alicia jabs the tip on her skin at the outer line of the inked heart, pithily scribbling to draw in some ink. Almost instantly, obscure wet lines trailed the head, tracing some faded streaks of the tattoo.

“No, you’re fine,” the teen says, sounding distant when her focus was seized on the inked heart, “the pen works great. Thank you.”

“Good, because I don’t think I have another one. It’s kind of bizarre that it’s hard to find those things: I basically had to turn my camp upside-down just to find that.”

Alicia squeezed in a chuckle between her lines. “For a pen?”

“What? No one would really loot those in a bloody _apocalypse_. I’ve worked hard on getting that for you, so I should be expecting a ‘thanks’ in return instead of a sassy remark.”

“I’m not complai…” Alicia’s sentence was interrupted by clanking of plates and running water, turning to find Elyza polishing platters and bowls. “Why are you washing the dishes?”

The said blonde’s eyes were wedged onto a blot of orange that were coated onto a plate so she only shrugged while scouring the platter with a bumpy sponge. “I went as far as picking up shards of glass with bare hands I might as well clean the dishes while I’m at it.” Now that she mentioned it, Alicia could spot loose bindings around Elyza’s fists, damped and darkened from the flowing water with some tint of blood from cuts that cosseted her palms.

“Picking up sha—?” Alicia stopped her sentence herself by her traveling eyes, finding out that she indeed cleaned most of the bare floors. “Didn't you cut your hands while you were at it?"

Elyza held up a hand, the back of it facing Alicia while her eyes still were trained on the dishes. Droplets of water raced down on her bandages to her elbows. "Obvious enough for you?" She tucks her hand back into the sink.

"And...you're running it under water."

"...Go on?"

"Wouldn't that hurt?"

"Yeah."

Alicia coils her head back from the nonchalant answer. " _Isn't_ it hurting?"

"Yeah," the blonde repeats in the same tone, a look of monotonous in her features.

Alicia gestures a hand out of pure bewilder. "So why are you—,"

"Better get immune to paper-cuts when you're about to face bullets and rotten teeth on daily basis." Clanking plates muffled some of her words. "Suck it up and get used to it. Always my advice."

"That no one shall follow."

Elyza softly chuckled. "Making life worse even after it ended: a novel by Elyza Lex."

"A 'New York's Best Seller,'" Alicia mumbled, crossing her arms while leaning back on an armrest to steady herself.

She heard a chortle from the other woman before silence crept in. It didn't stay for much longer than 3 seconds before Alicia shot a different conversation.

"So..." She sits up and bends her back and legs, her elbows settling on her knees as she stared at the floor. "You cleaned the floors? Washed the dishes? Traveling back to your camp to give me a damn pen in the middle of the night? What, are you always this polite?”

“ _Pfft._ I’m just trying to give out a good first impression since the last one didn’t go so well. Don’t get used to this, because _I’m_ still adjusting to this chivalrous act.”

“That’s one trait I’ve never expected you to have,” the brunette mumbles under her breath, dropping her legs to the foot of the couch and swathed the blankets over her shoulders as a cape, making a move to stand up.

As she stood, her eyes found an unfamiliar backpack resting at the cushion of the armchair, along with her phone. Alicia’s suspicion grew and so did her escalated brow. She remembered putting it somewhere along the couch.

Equipping the blanket as a cape, she went towards the armchair and retrieved her phone. She saw nothing out of the ordinary until she entered her password.

Instead of leading her to her home screen, it guided her to her gallery, displaying a video that was evidently done in the dark.

The thumbnail presented Elyza with the camera tilted in a high angle, her eyes half lidded and a dim light glistening on her face. It’s probably the phone’s flashlight.

Alicia’s curiosity got her to tap on it.

 _“Yoo, Alicia,_ ” _the video renders a voice in a raspy, low whisper. Elyza’s eyes were glancing to the side. “If you ever see these videos it means that I stole your phone while you slept.” She looked at the camera after a pause. “I didn’t invade or change anything; I just used your camera ‘cause I’m fuckin’ bored and all. Need something to entertain me enough to get me to_ stay _up.”_

_Elyza pursed her lips and created a pause, seeming in thought of what to say next. She softly popped them and directed the camera to Alicia’s sleeping form. “Hmph. You look so peaceful when you sleep. I wonder what you’re smiling about.”_

_The camera zoomed in on Alicia’s face, her mouth unconsciously sculpting a content smile and Elyza chuckled. The video generated shuffling movements as the blonde moved to get something from her back pockets, displaying a flattened, wrinkled paper ball in front of the camera before flinging the object to Alicia’s face._

_The brunette’s face scrunched and her smile turned into an annoyed frown, her eyebrows furrowing as she lifted the roof of the blanket to her nose, trundling in her position._

_A low snigger was blended in with a croaky accent when Alicia’s front turned to the backrest of the sofa. “Your moment ruined by yours truly,” Elyza narrates in a proud voice, leading the camera back to her face to show her shit-eating grin. “There’s plenty more where that came from.”_

Alicia chuckled, suppressing a grin before searching the rest of her gallery. There were masses of other videos made from last night. “You made a little diary series on my phone from the looks of it,” Alicia addresses, scrolling past loads of videos.

“A gal could get bored, y’know?” Elyza responds over the sound of rushing water and clanking plates, not seeming bashful about what she did, “It was the only thing that kept me entertained without making much noise to wake up the whole crew.”

As if on cue, the sound of a door opening silenced both girls when Madison entered the scene with a yawn and an eye rub. Her hair twirled into a tornado and her eyes opened a slit, sporting clothes she wore yesterday. She rubbed off a wet trail that dripped down on the corner of her lips, a sleepy smile imprinted on her face when she saw Alicia.

“Good morning…” She starts off, whirling her head around when she heard running water and her eyes widened at the sight of Elyza, not seeming as tired as before. “Oh!” she surprisingly yelps.

“Mrs. Clark!” Elyza points out, equally surprised as Madison from the looks of her voice and high eyebrows. “Uh good morning, miss. Fancy seeing you up first.”

“I could…say the same to you,” Madison mumbles, hesitantly mustering a simulated smile. “Not to be straightforward or rude and all, but why are you here?”

Elyza eyed Alicia’s expression, the brunette looking quite scared when their gazes met and her stiff shake to the head was enough to tell Elyza what she needed to say to ease her. Elyza fixed her watch back to Madison with planned words in her tongue.

“I don’t mean to infringe your boundaries and whatnot Mrs. Clark, but I chose to stay myself. I would’ve asked for your permission, but…” Elyza continued with the dishes, glancing back at Madison once in a while, “You didn’t seem like you wanted me around.”

“Well you’re quite the gifted observer,” Madison instantly retorts with a slight force in her voice, arms crossed. Alicia gave her mother a glare that looks like she wants to crush her skull into smithereens from behind.

Elyza, though, didn’t seem fazed. “Aren’t I?” she plays along with a tilted smile before refocusing on the dishes with a stern expression. “But in all seriousness, I didn’t come looking for trouble. If it makes you feel better: I’ll be leaving after I catch my breakfast.”

“Your breakfast?”

In coincidental timing, a high-pitched _ding_ reels everyone’s attention to a toaster which popped two crisp toasts in the slits. Elyza glanced at Madison before turning off the faucet, flicking her wrists above the sink’s countertop to dry her hands and strode towards the toasts afterwards.

“Yeah, breakfast. I was going to cook some eggs and everything but looks like provisions were low in the fridge; could’ve done cereal if my ‘favorite’ brand was there.” She grabbed a towel as she walked to the toaster, drying her hands more effectively before grabbing the toasts and situating them on a small plate.

Alicia scoffed. “You took your time to heat up two pieces of bread instead of eating cereal because your favorite product wasn’t in the shelves?”

“Other things start to taste weird when your group only eats Coco Puffs for breakfast, lunch, dinner, and snack,” Elyza replies, scrunching her nose. “The apocalypse is fucked up, but everything is free now, so it evens out.”

Alicia would’ve cringed at the use of language that was spoken in front of her mother but she snickered instead from Elyza’s weird way of humor. She dropped her head, hiding most of her amused smile and avoiding her mother’s glare.

Elyza took a bite out of a toast while walking to the pair, seeing that Alicia made her way to her mother’s side. “I still got the cereal out for you guys,” she speaks with a mouth full of crunchy bread crust, causing a minor cringe from Madison. “Bowls and everything, too.”

Elyza observed Madison’s eyes and eyed Alicia last, taking a brief pause before handing her the plate with the last piece of toast, the raised eyebrows saying “ _do you want it?_ ”

Alicia took the offer, hesitantly at first but nodded in thanks before Elyza and she took an identical timing bite from their toast.

Seeing that her mother eyed her carefully, Alicia gestures a hand in confusion. “What, am I not allowed to eat?”

“Don’t worry Mrs. Clark, I didn’t inject any poison in it,” Elyza answers instead, a crooked grin on her face as she crossed her arms. She wheezed when Madison transferred her glare to her. “ _Ha_! I was right! You _were_ concerned about that!”

“ _Really_ mom?” Alicia’s voice was muffled from her full mouth, bewildered by her mother’s concern. “You were worried about that?”

“What, a zombie apocalypse was predicted by the movies; poison in bread is any less weird compared to that!” Madison quickly defense and changes the topic. “I’ll grab Nick and Travis for breakfast.” She turns her attention to Elyza with hesitation. “Thank you for the setting up the table, Elyza.” Hearing her name from the woman had an odd vibe to it and Elyza has a feeling that she probably shouldn’t get used to hearing it.

“ S’not a problem Mrs. Clark.” She curtly dips her head, wearing a friendly, tight smile that Madison uncertainly impersonates before speed walking back to Matt’s bedroom.

The girl’s eyes trailed Madison’s figure when it retreated, lingering at the entrance of Matt’s room a moment longer before Alicia took a look at Elyza. Her mouth carved in a crooked grin and her canine fang chewed the corner of her lip, drilling its point at the base of her lip’s scar.

“We’re getting along pretty well, don’t you think?” She asks after transitioning her stare to Alicia a beat later, a childish grin replacing her angled one.

“ _Psht_ ,” Alicia spits, “yeah, getting kicked out of the house is a step closer to a loving relationship. The next are executional arguments.”

“I think we’re already dangerously close to that step.”

Alicia begins to dawdle towards the rectangular kitchen table, taking a bite of her toast along the way and speaks in a muffled voice. “Then after that is an actual execution.” Just as she was about to pass her shoulder, she caught Elyza biting her bottom lip with the corner of her lips pulled up at the end of her vision, causing a half smile to erupt from Alicia.

“My impatient being is already withering with excitement,” Elyza speaks with mock monotonous, taking a huge bite out of her toast. “I’ll eath away mh heelhings.” Her words were smeared and crumbs of crust spat out of her mouth, making Alicia cringe but softly chuckle.

Alicia wasn’t one for dark humor, but with the possible chaos behind their doorstep, she’ll take anything that’ll distract her from the fact that the dead are roaming around the earth.

“How’s your stomach?” She asks when she noticed the girl’s hand on the said area as she made a move to sit down next to the brunette. She digested her food to speak more clearly. “I always forget that you’re wounded.”—Alicia took another bite—“You move like you aren’t.”

Elyza swallows the fraction of the toast before replying. “Don’t compliment me on my acting skills: you’re boosting my ego.”

Alicia smiles, waving her toast around. “Noted.”

The blonde stuffs the remaining bread in her mouth, greatly muffling her words but she was still somehow understandable. “And fank hou for your conhern, it wah gheatly appreheated.” Alicia lowered her laugh and Elyza chewed most of her food to sound clearer. She slumps in her chair and crosses her arms before speaking again.

“It hurts,” she answers nonchalantly with a shrug.

Alicia raised an eyebrow. She was prepared for her to say things along the lines of “It’s nothing” or “I’m fine,” but was pleasantly surprised from the honesty. “Does it?” she pushes on, mimicking Elyza’s posture.

“Mmhm,” Elyza hums with a nod, “It hurts when I swallow.” She demonstrates by digesting her whole toast, barely squinting from the pain (Alicia assumes). “It hurts when I basically do anything, really.”

“Talking included?”

“If I raise my voice then yes, it’s included.”

“Then it’s probably better if you shut up,” Alicia casually replies, descending in volume as she chewed on her toast in the end of her sentence, looking to the side.

Elyza, though, grinned and tilted her head. “You think I’m capable of doing that?”

It caused a soft laugh from the brunette when her teeth were still sinking in the toast and a low chuckle from the other woman.

When Alicia took a fragment of the bread, it was like Nick’s signal to enter the scene. “ _Goooood_ mornin’ ladies,” he introduces a little too merrily, catching the girl’s attentions.

Elyza offered a half smile and a small shrug. “Could be better,” she comments, giving a nod of recognition when Nick settled himself next to her.

“About time,” Alicia quips in monotonous, her face now unamused. “What took you so long to come out?”

“We had a little conversation is all,” Travis answers instead with Madison following along behind him. He gave a smile and a nod to Elyza before turning his attention to Alicia. “We recently came to an agreement.”

“About what, kickin’ me out?” Elyza casually says with her jaw sliding to the side that did an effect to her voice, tilting her chair back as she examined her nails.

"It was 1 out of 3,” Travis says. “But we came to conclusion that it’s up to you.”

“To me?” Elyza averts her gaze to the man.

“We wouldn’t like to force you in anything you aren’t comfortable with.”

She goes back to her nails. “How polite of you.”

She examines them and after some time, she drops her arm in her lap and notices that all eyes were on her. Knowing that they were waiting for her answer, she pursed her lips and looked deep in thought, weighing pros and cons for both choices.

She would’ve announced her answer quite quickly if Alicia was never here to begin with. She's experienced a little more of how broken the girl actually was compared to her family, and she's worried that she hadn't experienced the girl's _full_ reaction.

If anyone could relate to that level of pain, it's Elyza. And she knows that the girl is trying to seek for comfort, but trying to play a casual act at the same time.

But it's the fear of what would happen if she stayed with them that decided her answer.

With a long sigh, she craned her neck back and locked on Travis. “My answer stays the same. It’s best if I leave now.”

Travis’ shoulders fell from the answer and the sibling’s lips were pursed in duplicate timing, while Madison’s eyebrow rose in pleasant surprise on the other hand. They’ve said it was her choice, so they didn’t bother to try and change anything, but some of them can’t help the disappointing looks in their faces.

“You’re leaving now?” Travis asks.

“Yeah,” the woman says, a little hesitant but nevertheless stood up. “It’ll be quicker if I go back in daylight. The dead are a little antsier in the dark, as I figured.”

Alicia slightly cringed when she realized there was most likely a chance Elyza ran into the dead when she went out in the middle of the night yesterday to grab a damn pen for her.

“But…wait,” Travis slowly starts, halting Elyza. “Where are you heading?”

“Somewhere in the East: my group is around there. S’not that big of a run; it’s probably just 10 miles away.”

“Oh, we were planning on going back to the East too: where our home is.”

Nick caught along and slightly stood up in his seat. “Yeah, it’s only 5 miles away or less: closer to us than your group! You could travel with us before you go. Y’know with the dead and all, we didn’t carry any weapons with us and we might stumble across some zombies.”

Madison nudged Travis with her elbow, mumbling in an irritated voice. “ _I thought you said that this was her choice.”_

 _“It is, honey.”_ His fiancé huffs at the last word. _“We aren’t forcing her to stay with us; this is just for our safety, all right?”_

“It’s temporary, Mrs. Clark,” Elyza barges in, hearing their hushed conversation. “I’ll leave as soon as I know you all safely returned home. You’ll just have to deal with my shit a little while longer.” She added a little apathetic smile from Madison’s glare.

After a quite a long stare-down, the older woman gave a rigid shake to the head before giving her attention to her husband. “When do we leave?”

“Now,” Travis said and as soon as he did, Elyza was already moving to the armchair to grab her backpack and Alicia’s phone. The family created a messy line behind her and when she saw Alicia, she handed the device back to her, nodding her head when she heard a small “thanks” before leading the family to the entrance.

“Did you drive to get here?” She asks.

“Yeah,” Nick answers, pointing to a direction to the far right. “It’s right ther… _woah_!” He suddenly yelps; his words mixed in with one another when he caught the sight of a [motorcycle](http://houseofharley.com/skin/hoh/images/harley-fbike.png). “Is that yours?!”

 Swinging her backpack on one shoulder, she looked over her shoulder and stitched on a grin. “It’s hell on wheels, babe! You have enough room to fit your whole family in your car, right?”

The family answered in identical timing.

“ _No_ ,” Alicia and Nick similarly lie.

“ _Yes_ ,” Madison and Travis say on the other hand.

The parents darted their attention towards their children, confused from their different reply while Madison hurls a glare at the siblings.

Elyza has her eyebrows held high with an amused half smile on her face. “So what’s the truth?” She inquires, mostly addressing the question to Alicia from the fact that her eyes were only on her: the brunette’s answer was a pleasant surprise to Elyza.

“We have enough space for 4,” Madison inputs, her hands placed at the sibling’s upper-backs to shove them along. “Come on now, we got no time to lose.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_“Ooh! I got’ta ‘nother good one,” Elyza pops after a moment of silence, her head reeling up. She turns the camera back to Alicia’s sleeping form, zooming in on her face. “Wan’na hear it?”_

_Alicia unconsciously groans and flips position so her back was facing Elyza._

_“Oh come on now, I swear it’s a good one.”_

_She gets shuffling movements for an answer and the blonde snorts, flipping the phone so the camera was facing her again. “Y’know, you’re rude when you’re asleep; no fun either.”_

Alicia fights back a smile, softly chuckling before swiping to the next video when the tape ended. The noise got her brother’s attention and she only gave a dismissing gesture when his eyebrow rose.

She’s been catching up on Elyza’s video series on her phone and only covered about 10 short videos, her enjoyment craving for more each time she finishes one and makes the car trip less awkward than it should be (for her). She’d let out an occasional scoff, chuckle or eye roll on the blonde’s behavior and Nick would often catch it, his perplexed expression getting stronger each time he sees a twitch of a side smile. He tries not to question it.

Alicia tapped on her screen to play her video after finding Nick’s attention was drawn back to the scenery the windows gave.

_Elyza was sitting on the armchair, her eyebrows furrowed as her line of sight was somewhere off screen. Her lips were drawn into a fine line and she looks lost in thought._

_“Mmm…I’m all out of jokes,” she mumbles after a while, sounding distracted. “What now?”_

Alicia smiled, shaking her head.

_After a long pause of silence, Elyza’s fingers started to tap in a rapid beat, her lips slowly puckering and ending in a pop. “Would you kill me if I took your phone for a couple of hours? I’m thinking about getting you that pen…”_

_She squinted, sounding unsure. “Nah, I don’t think you will. I hope.” She slowly starts to get up, keeping the camera in a high angle. “Well, in that case, we’re going for a little stroll, you and me. You’re finally going to meet my mates! How exciting is that, Alicia?”_

_At the mention of a name, Elyza turns the camera to the said person, waiting for a reaction of some sort._

_Alicia only stayed still._

_“Excellent!” the recorder says after a while, swapping the direction of the camera to her. “Such enthusiasm: I love it. Let’s go.”_

After releasing a breathy laugh, Nick had enough and twisted his position so he was facing his sister. “Okay, seriously: what are you watching?” He says with irritation.

“Videos.”

“Videos?”

“ _Videos_ ,” she impatiently states, ripping out an earbud. “ _Just_ videos.”

“After the ruckus you’ve experienced, it’s kind of strange to hear you laugh through all of this from _videos_.”

“What, you want to see me all moped and depressed? What’s so irritating about me minding my own business?”

“No, I don’t want to see you all moped and depressed, but considering the fact that your _boyfriend_ died, it’s kind of what I’m expecting! It’s just _so strange_ to hear you _laugh_ from this.”

“Just be glad you’re not gon’na deal with my emotional ass right now and _shut it_ ,” Alicia bursts with her tongue full of venom, her position suddenly straightening. “And don’t be so fucking _insensitive_ , Nick—”

“Alicia!”

“ _Nick_ ,” Travis butts in, putting a hand on Madison’s thigh to tell her to cut Alicia some slack. When the vehicle abruptly fell into silence, he continued cautiously. “It’s…It’s best to drop Matt out of the conversations for now. It’s a sensitive topic for all of us and we’re not ready to discuss it. Not yet.”

Nick didn’t respond for a while and only shifted his gaze back to Alicia, seeing that she still possessed a scowl on her face. He tried mustering a steel glare that could outmatch Alicia’s but ends up leaning back, his upper-back hitting the truck’s door.

He puffs through his nostrils, shaking his head as he crosses his arms. “Whatev—,”

“ _Travis!_ ”

Almost immediately, a deafening screech came afterwards and the family was brutally rammed in front, the seatbelts absorbing most of their body’s impact while their heads were recklessly driven forward.

Meanwhile, the siblings were never buckled in, so their bodies were thrusted into the back of the driver’s and passenger’s seats, with Alicia’s head crunching into the back of Madison’s as Nick’s side was lunged into Travis’.

Alicia’s phone somehow was still in her hands, she was grateful for that, but her head created the illusion of double visions and ringing was sailing through her ears, the side of her head excruciating with unbearable throbbing when she realized was happened.

“….. _’sa hor….!”_ She hears, barely rendering the sentence through her ears.

“ _What_?”

“It’s a horde!” Nick affectively yells through her barriers. “Zombies! Full of them!”

The drowsiness within Alicia slowly conveyed from shock to full-on panic from the words and she hastily climbed to the front to see for herself.

It wasn’t a massive flock; it probably estimates to 10 walkers least, but the boisterous engine gained all of their unwanted attention and the pack trudged towards the family.

“Out, _now!_ ” Travis commands, giving more force in his voice for an affective reaction. His family was already hustling with opening the doors when he addressed his first word, and Nick almost tripped on his way out.

When he fought for his balance, he noticed Elyza and her bike was next to their truck, a black trail following the base of her wheels hinting that she too had to make a brutal stop. The bike was leaned into her left foot, anchoring its position and was swerved to its side.

The family veered to Nick and Travis’ side of the vehicle and halted to their sides when they saw Elyza. Through the helmet, Alicia strained her eyes through the reflection of the visor to find out that the woman wasn’t at all worried. Her eyes were slightly squinted with joined eyebrows, looking straight at the horde like she’s arranging a quick game plan in her head.

Not for long, her sights landed on the family before she flipped the side stand of her motorcycle, keeping the position still and unequipping her helmet off.

It was when Elyza started to unravel her helmet hair by shaking it that Alicia knew she had to stab an elbow through Nick’s ribs to keep him from drooling.

She didn’t though, because she too was having trouble with the sight and ended up biting her bottom lip, hanging her head down afterwards. She doesn’t know why the sight bothered her this much, but she can’t deny that it was quite a show.

Though, she’d rather deep throat her own foot than admitting that out loud.

Alicia was reeled back to reality when Elyza cleared her throat. She lifts up her head and saw that her helmet was now in between her hip and wrist and her whole weight was converted in one leg.

She raised an amused eyebrow and offered a half smile, hooking a finger below Nick’s chin then lifted it up. “Might want to turn off the faucet a little, Nick?” She says with a teasing voice, rubbing her thumb below the corner of his mouth to add some effect. While doing so, her gaze transitioned to Alicia, both of her eyebrows now raised as her smile lifted a little higher when the girl almost immediately looked to the side.

“Elyza, this is a serious situation, the horde is coming _closer!_ ” Travis interrupts, panic evident in his thunderous whisper. “What do we do? We don’t have any weapons!”

Elyza looked at the worried man and plopped her hand back to her sides, ignoring Madison’s glare and Nick’s still dazed status before speaking in a more serious matter, but her smile didn’t completely wash away. “You got one thing right,” she says matter-of-factly and her small smile grew smug. “But only _you_ guys don’t have the weapons.”

She paid no heed to the confused look of the family and looked around the neighborhood like she has all the time in the world before pointing at a house behind the group. “Get inside that yellow house. You should be able to get in with a brick to the window panels that are beside the entrance. I’ll lead the horde somewhere else while you’re all at it.”

“How are you gon’na get their attention?” Alicia asks when Elyza scavenged around her backpack. Her hand stiffened inside the pack and her chin tilted up when the brunette spoke, looking at the teen with a devil-may-care grin when a round object was pulled inside her palms.

Alicia’s and her family’s eyes widened in similar timing when Elyza tossed a grenade in the air, only to come back down to catch it a few times. She spoke with the same grin. “They do like a lot’ov noise.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_“A’ight so, there’s Lindsi Joy, Mary Linctin, Ricki Tavin, Devun Vay, Thomas Rae, Mama Lex, Richurd Mori, and Bob Linctin._

_Lindsi is our mechanic and our little ball of sunshine: she’s_ way _too optimistic for an apocalypse, but she’s mostly the reason why our group smiles and still sane, so tops to her._

_Mary is a serious little bean: a softie behind a shitton of muscles that actually can’t have the heart to kill a fly. She’s a hell of a fighter though…but don’t tell her I said that: it’ll boost her fucking ego through outer space._

_Ricki is Mary’s boyfriend and her trainer. He’s a talkative, hotheaded rebel but same as Mary, he won’t kill anything that isn’t dead. Both of them aren’t really fond of firearms, but they’re dope on swords n’ shit._

_Devun’s too much of a sweetheart that I sometimes wonder how he’s going to survive all of this if he’s merciful even to the dead. But he’s amazing at creating drinks, so we kept him._

_Thomas s’kind of a fuckboy: basically it. But I’ll just say that he’s okay with the rifle to make him sound a little more useful than actual._ (She says in a voice which makes it evident that it was a tease.)

_Mama Lex? I think her last name is descriptive enough._

_Richurd’s a softie behind a bloodthirsty, walking dick to put it in simple terms…_

_And Bob is…Bob. ‘Co-leader,’ I guess. He’s Mary’s giddy and stubborn brother and Richurd’s best wing man. I swear, they’re more inse—”_

“Hey!”

“I’ve been calling you three times now,” Madison says with irritation, tossing back the earplug that she ripped out of Alicia’s ear. “Do you even realize what time it is?”

Alicia stopped her video and glanced at the top right corner of her phone, unamused. “It’s 10:00 A.M. So?”

“We came here around 9:30,” Madison says, “and she hasn’t returned in 30 minutes.”

“Like _we_ would know how much time it would take to control a flock of dead people,” Alicia apathetically speaks, leaving her gallery to check out her past conversations. “Besides, she drove off a pretty long way down.”

“She has a _motorcycle_ ; it could’ve taken her less than 5 minutes to come back!” Madison exasperates, annoyed by her daughter’s lack of suspiciousness. “She could’ve ran off and left us here.”

Alicia had had enough with her mother’s suspicions and almost threw her phone down to her lap. “Okay, mom, _seriously_ ,” she almost sharply cuts off, taking her device out of her interests. “What is with you with Elyza? What did she even _do_ to you? She saved me, befriended Travis, _forgiven_ his clumsy ass—”

“ _Alicia_ —”

“—and you’re _still_ suspicious about her?” the brunette presses on; “She’s literally sacrificing herself out there and even rejected our offer for her to stay. What does she need to do to prove to you that she’s trustworthy?! _Die a heroic death by saving me the third time_?”

“Do you know why I don’t like her?” Madison says without skipping a beat, stiffening her position a little more. “ _Do_ you? I’ve heard your conversation with Nick at Matt’s house”—the mention of his name got the boy’s head to turn to the arguing pair—“and I’m having _some_ trouble giving _some_ trust to a woman who could be a bandit!”

“Hey,” Nick cuts off, his hands out to gesture for them to quiet down, “hey hey hey. That’s what I thought _last_ time: I completely trust her now, mom. She seems fine.”

“Oh _shut up_ , Nick,” Alicia hits, “don’t be a goddamn hypocrite: you only trusted her because of her damn looks.”

“That was last time too!” he tries to reason, “After you listed all the things she’s done so far, I started to realize that she’s actually trustable! Look, mom, would a bandit _not_ take the chance to kill a girl when she was sleeping while they were alone, near an exit which gives them _just_ enough time just to escape and never come back? Wouldn’t they _accept_ the offer of staying with a group so that they could sabotage them more than going back to their people empty handed? She gave Alicia half her loot without even knowing her, offered to take care of Matt _and_ her after he died, turned down the opportunity to stay with us but only tagged along for _our safety_ , and offered to be _bait_ to a horde of zombies to distract them from _us_! Who would risk their life multiple times _just_ to kill a family who can’t even survive on their own in the apocalypse?”

Madison stayed quiet and Alicia stared at her brother with a shocked face that looks weaker than it intended to be.

 _This doesn’t look too pretty,_ Alicia thought, cringing inwardly.

Nick waited a little before continuing with a tired sigh. “Mom…all I’m saying is that you should give her a try. We should be _concerned_ about her, not skeptical. Her giving supplies and offering us help is like offering her _life_ to us: we have the advantage to leave her, backstab her; _betray_ her, and she trusts us that we wouldn’t do any of that. The worst thing you could do now is disappoint her.”

When Alicia heard no response from her mother a while later, the brunette turned to see Madison biting her lip, her gaze finding her crossed arms interesting and she looked…sad.

“…I just don’t want to take any possible risks,” Madison weakly starts, her voice so soft that it seemed like she was scared that her volume would break the siblings. “Trust is a big thing now, and I don’t want to hand that to the wrong person.”

“Mom,” Alicia beckons, placing a hand on her mother’s shoulder. “She attempted to leave in the middle of the night for a reason she’s not telling me, but she was saying it was for my own good. She was still there because I begged her to stay.”

Madison looked up with confused, furrowed brows. “But…didn’t she say that she chose to stay there herself?”

“She lied,” Alicia bluntly responds. “I told her to because I thought you’d freak out on me for making her stay.”

Madison, her face unmoved, nodded in understanding before a quick series of knocks shifted the moment between the family.

Nick moved to stand up, but Alicia was already in front of the door before he had time to fully stable himself to his feet. He rolled his eyes before dumping himself back on the sofa with an extra wave of his hands.

The door revealed a littered Elyza that was splashed with dark blood when Alicia pulled it back. Spoilt blemishes of dark ashes were speckled on her face and clothes and her backpack hung from one shoulder, her hand carrying a red Target basket with quantities of cans.

The blonde’s head was slightly angled down and her head rose when the door was opened, her eyebrows slightly raised before a slow processing grin took over her mouth.

“Trick or Treat?” Elyza banters, an uncertain smile taking place of her grin.

Alicia allowed the smallest of half smiles. “You’re 6 months early,” she simply says with a slight raise of her brows.

“April Fools?”

“It’s not the 1st.”

“Happy Hanukkah?”

At that, Alicia rewarded Elyza with a snigger and a head shake. “Why did you even knock?” she questions, stepping back so the blonde could enter.

“Aye, remember last time that I didn’t? I’m tryin’ta be cautious here, so the least thing you could do for now is to pat me on the back.”

Nick picked up on what they were talking about and softly laughed along with Alicia: even managing a small, curt smile from Madison. The said mother’s eyes momentarily enlarged from the amount of blood cluttering Elyza’s clothes, but her face soon became stoic with a neutral smile on her face.

The mother tilted her head to have more access to the sightings, spotting a red basket in Elyza’s grip.

“What’s that?” Madison asks in a very soft matter that Elyza’s head jerked to Madison, eyebrows briefly escalating from surprised pleasure.

“Oh it’s uh…food. There was a Target near me when I finally lost the walkers so I decided to raid it incase if there wasn’t a lot of food in this house.”

“But we’re only staying here for a couple of hours. Why is there so many?”

“S’for when you all get home; supplies _will_ run low when the days go by and someday, you’ll be raiding a market for provisions when you’re short on it. This whole basket is probably worth a few weeks of food, so you wouldn’t need to worry about that for quite a while.”

“What about you?” Nick interjects, “You need the supplies like us. We should split it evenly.”

“ _Ehh_ , it’s no biggy,” the blonde responds nonchalantly, waving a hand. “My group goes on daily supply runs and we’re still loaded with food and water. We’re near a couple of supermarkets, so you shouldn’t worry.”

“Oh,” Madison softly acknowledges, feeling slightly awkward. “Well…thank you for the delivery. Is that why you took so long?”

“Partially,” Elyza admits, setting the basket down near Nick’s couch before sitting next to him. “There were a ton of walkers in there so I had to stay low and kill the least I can without attracting any attention. Long story short, I ended up killing everything that was inside,” —the family cringed—“but ‘ey…” She leaned down to the basket to grab a container that was at the pinnacle of the pile, “I got’ta heap of melted ice-cream! Wasn’t sure what flavor any of you like, so I just took one of each. Is the refrigerator still running?”

“The house is running like regular, as Travis says,” Alicia answers. “The refrigerator should be working. It’s only been two days into the outbreak, I’m sure not everything has gone downhill yet.”

“But does the water work here?” Nick asks as he plunges his nose with his palm sheltering around his mouth, making a weird effect with his voice, “B’cause Elyza _really_ needs one…”

While maintaining eye contain with Alicia, the blonde swatted the back of her hand at his shoulder that caused the boy to softly laugh, making Elyza glance at him with a tilted smile before going back to Alicia. “Speakin’of, where is he?”

“Upstairs. He’s checking if there’s any walker lingering around here.”

“Ah. Well in that case, who’s hungry? We basically had a Dingo’s breakfast this morning, so I assume I already know the answer?” Elyza didn’t wait for a response and skimmed through a hallway that she believes leads to the kitchen with the Target basket in tow. “I volunteer as chef!”

The family didn’t follow the blonde but stayed wedged in their places, their eyes surveying Elyza’s behind with a confused look.

“What’s a Dingo’s breakfast?” Nick softly ponders, seeming to voice out everyone’s thoughts.

Alicia was the first to recover her baffled state and simply shrugged a shoulder, tracking Elyza. “Beats me, but now that she mentions it, I’m actually pretty hungry.”

Nick pushed away his question and trailed behind Alicia. “Yeah, me too. _Starving_ , actually: I didn’t even eat anything this morning.”

“Well, luck’s on your side today, mate: we’re having breakfast for lunch. You favor hash browns?” Elyza says while putting melted ice-cream containers in the refrigerator’s freezer, smiling at the pair.

“Oooh, sweet!” Nick eagerly addresses, stretching out the _‘oooh’_ in a low voice. “Hey mom! We’re having hash browns for lunch, want to help us?”

“Just a minute Nick, I’ll just go grab Travis for…lunch-breakfast,” the woman uncertainly responds but smiled from the distant chuckles. “Set up the table for us, okay? I’ll be back shortly with him.”

“Will do, Mrs. Clark!” Elyza answers instead, surprising Madison that she was pleased it was her. The mother started scaling the stairs wordlessly without knowing she sported a petite smile on her face when she heard a natural flow of a conversation beaming inside the kitchen.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“Mama Clark seems to be opening up to me,” Elyza says through the sizzling below her, playfully rolling her _a_ ’s around in her accent. “What made her change her mind?”

Nick chuckled from Elyza’s nickname for his mother while Alicia just smirked and answered her in a serious tone. “We just gave her a little talk.”

“Aww, aren’t you both just sweet,” the woman answers in a baby voice, poking the hash browns in the pan with a spatula and a pout meant to be addressed to the siblings. “You forced her to like me!”

“Well, if you put it that way…” Alicia mumbles; earning a canned laughter from her audience that got a pursed smile to form on her own mouth. “She was just protective of us, s’all.”

“Hey, Elyza,” Nick butts in, unsubtly changing the topic of the conversation. “What’s the meaning of your tattoos?”

“The meaning?”

“Yeah, like why you got them: why you chose to tattoo that dreamcatcher on your right forearm, for example. What’s the reason for it?”

Elyza hummed in thought, unconsciously placing clusters of blonde hair that lied on her shoulder behind her back and continued to push around the hash brown in the pan afterwards. “Nothing really exciting behind it: It was for childhood memories. I built something similar to it when I was in 3rd Grade and I kept it with me while everyone else threw theirs away. It’s been hanging on top of my bed ever since and it just gives me a lot of throw backs to when I was little.”

“Is it still there?”

“Yeah, it’s still hangin’. It’s just worn out s’all: the yarn lost most of their color and feathers are all withered. I sometimes think it’ll break and smack me in the face one day in the middle of the night.”

“Well, you sure do deserve one,” Alicia responds, smirking before bursting into a spitting laugh, sniggering when Elyza looked at her over her shoulders and convincingly looked offended.

“Hey, don’t be an ass!”

Nick hopped in and banged his head back from the impact of his abounding laughter in his lungs, his chair leaning back to the point where it worried Alicia that he’ll come tumbling down with it.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

As the group enjoyed the company of Elyza, Madison came back with Travis as promised, not long after their outburst of laughter. Travis’ eyes enlarged from the sight of the blonde’s clothes being devoured by rotting blood, but the duets acknowledged each other’s presents with a curt nod and a friendly smile. The couple settled next to each other on the dining table, bartering small talks with Nick as they waited for their meal to be ready. Alicia joined the group shortly after finishing a brief video of Elyza reproducing a vine and situated herself next to Nick, occasionally commenting her say on the topics they were discussing if she could.

It wasn’t long until the meal was ready and placed on a platter to settle in the middle of the table. But Elyza knew something right away: the food wasn’t enough for all of them for it to be shared evenly. So, after winning a friendly quarrel, she discarded her plate to replace it with a bowl of cereal and sat at one of the ends of the table; between Travis and Alicia.

Elyza was the voice of the table; the reason for all of the chatter and laughter, and the family’s grateful that she manages to distract them from all of the chaos outside. Elyza mostly targets her questions to Madison, encouraging her to participate a little more in the discussions and tries to list herself on her good side. She jokes and shares information about her and the apocalypse: her group, how to survive, classified information of the undead, her life in back in Australia, and her family.

But no one ever noticed that she only talks about her mother when the group tries to pry more information about her family.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Alicia was the first to finish her repast and the first to leave the table. She escorts herself to the living room, glancing at the kitchen the final time when a series of chuckles emerged before she pulled out the pen from her jean’s back pocket.

Chucking herself onto the couch, she stared at the heart on her forearm, tapping on the smudged ink with joined eyebrows before releasing a breath and rolled the pen with her fingers so that the point was directed to the marking.

She managed to create 4 steady lines of ink before the tip stayed stationary at the beginning of the 5th stroke. Her hand started to tremble and the line became a rigid path as the point started to trickle down to the inside of her elbow, arising a growl of frustration from the brunette. Her whole being started to vibrate and her vision became blurry from liquid, the fluid sculpting itself into the form a tear that repelled from the shell of her eyes and dropped onto her forearm. The blob of water dyed into a black color, the fresh ink she’s drawn on seeped into the solution and she released a shaky sigh, not daring to blink to release anymore tears. She curses herself for being so attached to anyone and that’s when the crunching of food being chewed.

Her chin lifted up, finding Elyza leaning on her shoulder onto a wall of the hallway that led to the kitchen, a box of Coco Puffs as one of her possession with her other hand inside it.

Elyza’s raised eyebrow lowered and shifted into an arched position, imitating a soft, worried look when crimson dyed eyes met blue ones. They stared at each other for a moment, the sound of lenient chewing only filling the living room before Elyza balanced her weight on both feet, dawdling over to the brunette as she gently chewed the cereal in her mouth.

Silence was the only thing that they’ve addressed to each other so far, and Elyza settled the cereal box on the table in front of Alicia’s couch, dusting her palms from the crumbs on her digits by swiping her hands together. She then rubbed them on her short ripped jeans and finally maintained proper eye contact with the crying girl for a moment before her eyes landed on the amateur lines she’s drawn.

Elyza hummed when realization hit her and she sat next to Alicia, digesting her chewed food before swinging her legs on the cushions of the couch, crossed-legged and facing the girl. With a palm exposed to the brunette, Elyza reassures with a sad-looking smile and exchanged her first words.

“Tell me if I’m pushin’ too hard, a’ight?”

She wagged all her fingers in sync to Alicia, beseeching her to hand her the pen. The girl submits and hands the said object to the blonde, scooching her being closer to hers to remit her forearm for the woman’s reach. The duo bent down in identical timing, their foreheads almost clashing together as their shadows mended over Alicia’s forearm when Elyza dabbed the hem of her shirt around a freckle of a tear, not wanting to smudge anymore ink.

Elyza gripped an area below Alicia’s wrists and had a half-smile on her face (not that Alicia could see it) as she tried to create a conversation. “R’you ticklish?”

Alicia glanced at Elyza, trying to connect their eyes before going back to her forearm, watching the strokes. “In occasions.”

Elyza briefly stopped and looked up; her eyebrows rising with a creasing forehead and an angled smile. She hummed and went back to tracing after a second has passed. “Occasions?”

“Is it important to know?”

“It depends on how much you don’t want me to screw up your arm, but I’m thinking the answer’s yes, correct?” There wasn’t a respond after Elyza finished, so she continued with an explanation. “I need you to stay still if you want this to come out right, and it might tickle.”

Alicia flashed a brief, weak smile. “I can handle it.”

“Ah, so you _are_ ticklish,” Elyza replies in mischief. “I’ll keep that in mind.”

The brunette grinned, receiving chuckles from herself and Elyza when she swatted the blonde’s shoulder. “ _Don’t_.”

“Nah-ah- _ah,”_ the woman playfully says, not seeming fazed by the hit but grinned either way. “Wouldn’t want me to ‘ _accidentally_ ’ mess up on this now, would we?”

The amount of emphasis the blonde settled on the word “accidentally” got Alicia to scoff. “It’s not like I’m getting a tattoo.”

“Are you planning to get it tattooed?”

The former stayed silent.

It was enough for both of them to understand.

Elyza’s small smile weakens when she looked through her lashes and saw the girl’s shoulder slouching, her smile correspondingly faltering into a diminutive frown as they dropped.

“It’s not like I have a chance now,” she finally replies in feign casualty, her eyebrows joining when she eyed the marking.

“I know a thing or two about a tattoo machine.” Elyza looked up from her focus, displaying a straight face as the corner of her lips barely lifted into a smile, but her mouth didn’t curve. “If we ever come across a tattoo parlor, we could stop by and keep this thing permanent.”

“I don’t think my mom would approve of stopping our travel just for me to get a tattoo.”

“Yeah, but a little argument wouldn’t hurt, would it?”

“Nothing is ‘little’ with my mom.”

Elyza tapped the end of the pen on Alicia’s forehead, making her giggle. “Come on, don’t be a killjoy.” She went back to working on her forearm with a smirk. “Okay, tell you what: you could visit me sometimes; I’m only 5 minutes away, _in theory_ , and my group is settled near a tattoo parlor. We could catch up while I tattoo you.”

“But let me make one thing clear,” Alicia says, switching the topics. Elyza eyed her through her lashes when she heard the brunette’s tone in a merry, curious tone. “ _You_ walked back to _your_ group, which is _10 miles away_ , _just_ to give me a goddamn pen?”

Alicia’s tone was heavily emphasized that it got Elyza to softly chuckle. “Not particularly. If you caught up with my little video series, you should know for a fact that I rode there by bicycle close to the beginning.”

Alicia had and thought back to the video, smiling at the memory:

_The video was incredibly shaky; everything was motion blurred do to the bumpy road Elyza was taking and the camera was shooting footage of her feet rapidly paddling instead of her face._

_It seemed planned; since Elyza started to slowly lift the angle of the camera up in a high one when she stretched out an “I” in a sing-along song._

_The field of view the lens has displayed a small horde of zombies tailed behind Elyza, and that was when she started singing in a calm, merry matter._

_“—want to ride my bicycle,_

_I want to ride my bike!_

_I want to ride my bicycle,_

_I want to ride it where I li—_ Hey! _”_

_Her sing-song tone turned into a sharp, angry-ish tone at the last word and her head cuttingly turned to the side, making the camera turn at the same direction as well._

_A walker was close to her reach and Elyza leaned her whole body to the side, managing to free a foot and applied enough space for it to kick the walker on the stomach, the wobbling of the bike making the footage blurry._

_“Fuck off, mate!” she yells over the raspy growls as she kicked the ghoul. “Don’t ruin my vibe!”_

 

Alicia snickered, negatively shaking her head. “I have been. You’re insane.”

“I prefer the word courageous,” the woman smiles.

“No one says that anymore.”

Elyza lifts her head as she starts her sentence. “Well, that makes me different from the others, yeah?” She ducks her head again, her smile growing into a small grin. “And if it changes anything, I _now_ prefer the word ‘fearless.’ Better?”

Alicia shrugs and briefly tilts her head, replicating a smug frown and raised her eyebrows. “You’re getting there.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

After Elyza was imminent on finishing the outlines of Matt’s work on Alicia’s forearm, the trio came out of the kitchen, with Travis hooking the Target basket at the joint of his elbow. Alicia looked over her shoulder after seeing Elyza eyeing her family from behind.

“Ready to go girls?” Travis asks, switching his glance between the said people.

“Mhm,” Elyza answers for both of them, quickly jotting down extra strokes on Alicia’s arm. “I’m almost done. Gim’me a jiffy.”

Alicia expected to feel stripes of ink drizzling down her arm, but she was met with scribbles that were underneath her wrists, away from the actual artwork. Bemused and curious, she tries seeing what the woman was writing, but her head was blocking her view and her shadow was layering the ink, making it hard to decipher.

When Elyza finished, she straightened her back, concealing the tip with the cover of the pen and looked at Alicia, holding the pen out. “Here you go.”

The brunette takes it, trying not to hesitate much and mumbled a quiet “thanks” that Elyza didn’t hear. After the said blonde went towards her family, Alicia took a peak at her arm.

There was indeed letters below her wrists; two words. It was upside-down and quite sloppy, but understandable enough to notice that there were a couple of s’ and o’s. Alicia tried translating the words at her angle, but it did her no good. Before she could position her arm better, a loud gunshot tinkled through the walls.

Everyone’s head was directed to the front entrance, the chat between Elyza and Travis was now forgotten as more shots were jingling through.

_Bang._

_Bang._

_Bang._

Silence.

The family backed up and Alicia scattered away from the couch, finding protection behind her step-father whose arm was shielding her front as his other was holding his fiancé’s wrist.

Elyza seemed unfazed, her stride casual and vulnerable as she advanced towards the front entrance, holding out two fingers to pry open the closed blinds. Her neck extended towards the shades, knitted eyebrows displaying on her features as she finds nothing out of the unusual outside.

Elyza’s silence was too much of suspense to the family and Travis blurted out in a voice close to a whisper, “Do you see anything?”

The blonde, about to shake her head, was suddenly frozen. Her neck reeled back and she started to take steps back, her head snappishly turning to the family so fast that Alicia was a little worried she had a whiplash.

“Hide. _Now,_ ” Elyza demands, her voice petrifyingly commanding that the family was worried about asking for an explanation until she spoke it out anyway. “Bandits are scavenging the neighborhood: they’re coming!”

 

 

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> sorry for the wait: i kept having writer's block at the eating scenes.
> 
> song elyza was singing: bicycle race - queen
> 
> this was suppose to be MUCH longer, but some ideas i had were cut down; for the sake of the common sense in the plot and your waiting. and for my sanity.
> 
> octavia's and bellamy's last name is "linctin" because:
> 
> octavia: lincoln  
> bellamy: gina martin  
> lincoln + martin = linctin.
> 
> it was about to be "linc" but octavia can't hog the spotlight.
> 
> also, fyi, if you forgot like me, elyza is still majorly wounded. that's gon'na be a big disadvantage at a FIGHT, right? ;)


	4. she's a stranger, but at the same time, not at all (UPDATED)

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Elyza herds the family back to fight off the bandits herself, but end s up having a not-so-secretive alliance with a vaguely familiar face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> OH MY G O D THIS WAS A PAIN,
> 
> OK, I'M SURE I DID THIS CORRECTLY NOW, ENJOY THE 2K UPDATE.
> 
> p.s - chloe is precious. i love her.
> 
> P.P.S - EDITING LATER. REALIZED WORDS WERE MISSING AND LINKS WERENT ADDED.
> 
> [links and a couple words added!]

 

 

 

" _Bandits_ —?"

" _Did I stutter, Nick?!"_ Elyza booms, her voice lurid enough to make the entire family wince from her blare, while Elyza winced inwardly. "Upstairs; _now!_ "

The group never even had the possibility to shift from their positions until the blonde herds them to the bottom of the stairs, cornering them to their only option; it's like the presence of Elyza alone was enough for the family to repel away.

"Hide separately unless you all want to be killed at the same time if you're going to get found, and  _please_  be creative with your hiding spots; closets are never the answer," the woman seriously informs while goading the family upstairs. "Don't be heroic, don't be curious, and don't be stupid; stay in your place no matter what you hear until I call you all out! Now  _move_!"

"But Elyza, you're—"

" _MOVE!"_ she cuts Alicia off in a bellow, and at this point, Elyza's voice was horrifying enough that it caused even Madison to scurry to the farthest room.

They flee to the rooms that were their random choice even before Elyza barks more commands. "Leave your doors as it is; they'll suspect someone will be inside if the doors are locked!"

And they obeyed, doing the tasks that they were told to do: their doors exposed and unlocked and beds and closets were out of their shrouding options. The family quickly settles in their interring positions, straining their ears for any other orders.

They received no more words, but the diminishing sounds of thumping footsteps.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

In the direst of situations that were humanly possible to think of, Elyza Lex wouldn't bat an eye if she caught herself in the midst of those scenarios. After what the world has shifted into, the idea of death itself is better than survival. Besides, death has always been a misinterpreted gift that gives you leisure in its twisted way; it's a step that no one wants to proceed, because it was infamous for its misery and pain. No one observes the reward, but the process of how to receive it; that's why people fear death. The ones who haven't ached enough never realized that demise is the gateway to alleviation, and kept their distance. The ones who suffered long enough  _realized_  the reward behind the procedure of death, and were left impatient for such relief.

So it's bizarre to see why Elyza is still here, staying and fighting back with the oblivious. But she has her reasons.

She is not afraid of the additional pain, no, but the sorrow she'll experience. Never does she want to be the cause of one's pain; of one's grief, because of her passing. And never does she want to leave someone and have them satisfied with a miscalculation of betrayal, of treachery, lingering in their thoughts when she passes.

She couldn't leave when others look at her as if she's the only existing sign of hope they have left in the mass of chaos they're surrounded in. She couldn't bare the possibility of misjudgment within her death.

So she tried isolating herself with humanity. But look where that has gotten her: a group she's strongly kindled with, and a family that relied on her for their lives.

With an un-needed inhale of breath, she puffs, idly descending down the steps of stairs with an expression free of emotion. She walks through the kitchen to retrieve her backpack, purchasing a fleeting moment to delve for a firearm. With a brief scavenge for a weapon; she attains her [FNX-45](http://www.gundigest.com/wp-content/uploads/FNX45-2.jpg) that was secured in the side pockets. Rubbing a thumb over the gritted material of the pistol's handle, she settled the barrel into the back pocket of her jean shorts. Knowing where the attachment was, her hand skims to the other side pocket, pulling out a [silencer](http://cdn.surefire.com/media/catalog/product/cache/1/image/9df78eab33525d08d6e5fb8d27136e95/s/o/socom338-ti_profile.png). She pulls out her pistol again, quickly coiling the suppressor around the muzzle before hastily zipping her backpack half way, exiting the kitchen to settle next to the entrance.

Though, her movement ceases.

And a malevolent grin took over her resting face.

How could she forget of this?

She walks backwards, almost skipping, before swirling in her heels to properly frolic forward back to her backpack, her wicked grin turning impish when she pried open her pack for an item she's been saving. It was the most ludicrous scheme anyone could ever pull in the middle of an apocalypse, but what's the fun in survival when you don't make the effort to create a little chaos?

Elyza couldn't help the sudden little chortle that announced itself from her lips when she found the piece she was looking for. Even if it was only days into the apocalypse, she's been waiting to pull this off for quite some time now without the risk of possible death, but bandits aren't normally friendly. Maybe she'll be lucky this time.

With an unacquainted smile and backpack left half-zipped, Elyza sashays back to the entrance with the plastic item inside her jean's back pocket as her firearm remained in her lazy grip.

She hides next to the entrance with a stance that was sloppy and lacks body protection; both hands were gripping the handle of her pistol with a finger not even settling on the trigger, the bottom of the magazine hovering just above her crotch as her shoulders were slump, legs barely spread with her upper-back and the back of her head connecting with the wall, the plastic item within her jean's pocket slightly scraping along the yellow paint.

But she didn't have time to correct it as the jiggling of a doorknob being picked caught her attention.

Elyza tenses for a brisk moment before her defenses lowered even more when the sound repeated its same rhythm for a longer time than she thought. The doorknob began to wobble more aggressively, with Elyza's eyebrow cocking upward in amusement when she heard a female's shrill whisper through the door.

" _Mmf...ugh, come on...please work,"_ the girl fires in a snappish murmur. Judging simply from the voice, Elyza estimates the girl to be at least a 14 year old American citizen. Her voice sounded normally high-pitched with the Canadian accent highlighting her vocals, softening words.

" _Oh my G—how hard is this?"_ the Canadian continuously rants, their whispers bumping up a pitch. Elyza smirks after hearing a frustrating huff, her sloped smile faltering only the slightest bit when the doorknob finally clicked open.

Elyza smothers a snigger when she heard the girl sighing in relief.

" _Finally_..." the girl breathes.

A worn-out black combat [boot](http://www.polyvore.com/cgi/img-thing?.out=jpg&size=l&tid=67017245) appears beyond the entrance before it reeled in a petite girl to view. She was [Caucasian](https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=caucasian), a head shorter than Elyza and possessed a skinny body. Her hair was thin, messily choppy at the ends, and light brown, reaching down to a barely shoulder-length height. She wore a simple [Baseball Tee](https://s-media-cache-ak0.pinimg.com/564x/e0/7c/01/e07c013cdc01b7855165d88025882eb0.jpg) that retained the colors of black and white, with faded, barely ripped [jeans](http://bpc.h-cdn.co/assets/15/53/1451406619-distressed-torn-jeans.jpg) that were tucked into her boots and an additional loose black knitted [beanie](https://img0.etsystatic.com/000/2/5564938/il_fullxfull.286839978.jpg) sagging at the back of her head. Her façade was limited to Elyza's eyes, since the girl's head wound to a direction that only displayed the back of her head and her beanie.

The girl's head started to turn forward, oblivious about the blonde's presence until she felt the cold muzzle of a silencer at her temple. The girl immediately froze and Elyza could see her jaw clench. From the new angle, the blonde could spot thin, pale lips with a couple of freckles peppering the tip of the girl's nose. The obverses of her clothing were mottled in murky blood and speckles of them were scattered on her jaw and jutted chin.

"Howdy!" Elyza verbalizes in a playful, strong Southern accent, smiling as her lips were puckered. After a short moment, the girl gradually raised both her hands in surrender, her knees bending in an obtuse angle as she tries to situate her littered butcher knife on the ground next to her, going back to her idle position with tucked elbows when she dropped her melee.

Elyza smoothed her lips back to a straight line, her mouth now molding into a crooked smile. "That was greatly appreciated, lad," she comments, going back to her standard accent.

"Please," the Canadian juvenile pleads in a soft, deliberate tone, her voice clean from shakiness but palpable of fear. "I-I came here looking for supplies. My family is low on it because we never had enough to begin with, so if you don't care to share I'll be on my way, I won't say anything about you or what happened, I swear, just... _please_ , don't kill me."

Elyza, entertained by the girl's fear, over exaggeratingly tilted her head out of her impish mood, her smug, puckered smile coming back to visit. "What's y'name?"

"...Chloe."

The blonde furrowed her brows in a teasing manner, preforming a feign confusion as she pulled back her pistol away from Chloe's temple to wave it around for more effects. "Chloeeee...  _what_?" she says, stretching out the girl's name before pushing the silencer back to her temple with a force that tilted her head at the process. "Is that it?"

"Chloe Hayes," the brunette promptly replies, almost interrupting Elyza's last word. "M-my name is Chloe Hayes."

Elyza grinned, seeing the girl's frame tremble ever so slightly. She could possibly be playing with fire, but her amusement made her feel like she wanted to get burned for the time being.

With a finger finally hooked onto the trigger, she added more pressure on Chloe's temple, making her head tilt in her position. "Well,  _Chloe_ ," Elyza starts, heavily emphasizing the girl's name by clicking the ' _c_ ' in a hard matter. "On a scale of 1 to 10..."

Elyza flicked the safety off with her thumb, making Chloe substantially flinch. A devil-may-care smile positioned itself on Elyza's mouth when the teen's quiver became more obvious.

"...how doubtful are you?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_"Elyzaaaa!" a cheery voice from a distance cuts off the said blonde's speech, the woman's eyes now directed to something off-screen as a proceeding grin infected her lips._

_Elyza turns the camera to the direction of her gaze before speaking with a similar, enthusiastic tone that the voice had spoken in. "Lindsiiii!"_

_There was a Hispanic girl scampering towards the route where Elyza is, arms angled to 90 degrees as it frantically swung at her sides as she dashed. There was a garish light that was behind her person, which made it hard to render her appearance through the screen, but her hair was lengthy and tidy, knotted into a neat ponytail,_ as far as Alicia could tell,  _and her bleached teeth were vivid enough through the darkness that it was evident the girl was widely grinning._

_"Heeey, girl!" the new appearance merrily chirps before colliding with Elyza in a bear hug, tipping the blonde backwards from the force. After a particularly tight squeeze, based on the blonde's strangled yelp, the cheerful brunette unlatched herself and noticed the camera, her head tilting with confusion in her eyes. "Is that a phone? Are you recording?"_

_"Yeah; I am." Elyza swathed an arm around the Hispanic girl's shoulders and tilted her head into her temple, holding the camera high and maintaining eye-contact with it. "It's Alicia's phone; I took it with me to accompany myself on my boring journey here. Also to introduce you guys to her: Alicia, this is Lindsi. Lindsi, this is Alicia's phone."_

_"Hi Aliciaaa!" Lindsi practically shouts, frantically waving with an unrestrained broad smile that got her mouth to open and Elyza to chuckle. Her voice goes down a pitch, but still held the same level of blissfulness either way. "You owe us a pickup truck, by the way!"_

_Elyza rolled her eyes before explaining. "We use a pickup truck for our supply runs in case if we have a huge loot to carry."_

_"It was our last one, too," the other girl butts in, pouting. "Elyza crashed the last three trucks."_

_"Excuse me, but for_ my _defense: it's your fault that you guys thought I would be a responsible driver after the 2nd incident."_

_Lindsi rolled her eyes, an expression of feign disgust displaying on her features when she tossed back Elyza's arm, that was around her shoulder, by pinching her wrist. "Sorry to overestimate you then."_

_"But I'm flattered that you did!"_

_The girl started to walk away, groaning when she realized a little too late what her words did to her friend's pride."_ Uugh,  _it was nothing more than a fatal mistake!"_

_"You sit in a throne of lines, Lindsi!" Elyza humorously retorts; an amused grin on her lips. "My ego has been boosted!"_

_"Come in before I change my mind and close the gates on your smug-ass face."_

_Elyza gritted her teeth for a teasing effect, furrowing her brows and squinting when she made eye-contact with the camera as she lowered the angle. "Eeek, she's not joking when she says that: she actually locked me out once because I was too much of a smart-aleck for her to handle. Got'ta blast!"_

A short-lived smile exhibited itself on Alicia's mouth after the video of Elyza and Lindsi ended, lingering on for only a moment before it shifted into a frown. She's been hiding behind the headboard of the bed for quite a time now, and the cramming area gave her a sore rear and an aching spine. Her video marathon started right after she assumed Elyza went downstairs and covered about 3 videos, including the film that introduced Lindsi, before she heard the distant jiggling of a doorknob.

Alicia held her breath and sealed her lips closed by pursing them, her grip turning viciously tight around her phone that it made her worry she'll end up cracking the screen. Craning her neck back, she longingly blows with coated eyes, her head descending along with her exhale. She tries to take no notice of the escalating pain and attempts to continue investigating her gallery.

_Instead of Elyza behind the camera, it was Lindsi taking control with Elyza next to her, the high side angle able to capture both of their bodies as it showed Lindsi looking straight at the camera with a soft smile on her face and Elyza looking forward while unconsciously strutting in her walk, a resting bitch-face on tow in her features._

_"Hey Aliciaaa," Lindsi starts in a girl-ish tone, a grin forming on her mouth as she spoke. Elyza, being jerked away from her little world, directly spun her head around to her friend the instant she generated a sound before looking at the camera, the recognition acquiring her to grin before she looked forward again with a soft chuckle. "We're gon'na introduce you to some of our friends! Are you excited?"_

_"_ Ohh,  _that excitement is going to turn into instant regret," Elyza says in a low vocal and extended the 'oh' in her sentence, her focus still somewhere straightforward as her grin seemed permanent._

_"Elyza, don't be mean," the Hispanic emphasizes, stretching out the woman's name along with the last word. "Have a heart."_

_"Have a_ what? _"_

_Lindsi sniggers, shoving her foreign friend on the shoulder that spewed a snicker. "You're excruciating."_

_"It's dangerous to use such a sophisticating term for an absurd chick like yourself."_

_The brunette gaped, truly offended by the vulgar comment and yells, "You're an ass, too!"_

_Elyza smirks, her grin reducing to a half-smile before she continues in her unemotional tone. "Well, you know what they say: you are what you eat."_

_"Gross.."_

_"Your admiration has been noted."_

_"You call that a compliment?"_

_"And here, I thought you knew me well enough to_ know _I'll take that as a compliment."_

_Shaking her head, the girl responds with an entertained grin. "Why I'm still hanging out with you is a question that still remains unanswered."_

_"And I'll make sure it'll stay like that."_

_Lindsi rolled her eyes, lowering the camera down to her face before addressing an explanation meant for Alicia. "I better make this less painful for you and end this video quickly before Elyza becomes more of a smart-aleck."_

_Before Lindsi had the chance to conclude the film, Elyza, in the blink of an eye, cleaved to her friend's wrist and twisted it not so that it harmed her, but to angle the camera to her face._

_"You haven't seen the worse of me yet—!" she manages to fire in before Lindsi's other hand succeeded in tapping on the button to end the video._

Alicia endorsed a light, winded chuckle that she hardly heard herself, from the fear of being heard, and lifted a thumb to swipe on the screen for the next video, oblivious to the miniscule smile she's holding.

_Rattle, rattle. Rattle, rattle._

The faint noise was all it took for Alicia's movements to abruptly halt. She barely caught it through the walls and it didn't sound close to her, thank God for that, but the volume wasn't what pestered her. It was how aggressive the sound was gradually getting to the point where the person is practically thrusting the door to and fro.

Alicia, growing puzzled by the seconds passing, had a sudden curiosity that goaded her to investigate what scene was playing downstairs, and from judging by the volume of the sound, she's confident that her whole family had the same urge as her. But Elyza's words were too clear for miscalculations.

_"Don't be heroic, don't be curious, and don't be stupid; stay in your place no matter what you hear until I call you all out!"_

Alicia huffed, her neck craning back so her head touched the wall with eyes coated shut when a soft  _thud_  was produced. She lifted a hand to her face so that the palm was positioned on her cheek, her digits sliding down to the thin layer of her eyelids to rub rigid circles as an act of massaging her strained eyesight.

 _Whoever you are, Elyza Lex,_ Alicia silently prays, her hand now slithering down her face to plunge down to her lap with a low plop.  _I just hope you're not as selfless as you prove you are._

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Elyza attempts to hide her incoming snigger with an innocent smile, lightly provoking the Canadian with wispy tapping of her silencer's muzzle on her temple. "Come on, just gim'me a number, Chloe."

Chloe would normally be infuriated by all the teasing and taunting if her answers didn't determine her fate, but what's new? She practically mastered the ability to maintain her frustration and simulate an irrelevant impression to what she's actually feeling, so this is realistically like an exam for her that she knows she'll ace.

With a hard swallow, Chloe's shaking body carried it's tremors on to her vocals. "I'd say a solid 7."

Elyza shrugged, satisfied with the number. "Reasonable. But what happened with the additional 3—?"

"—If you wanted to kill me you could've done it already," the girl replies with a brave retort, but her next words were deliberate; cautious. "And the rest is basically just hoping."

 _Oh please,_  Elyza nearly says,  _you should be grateful I'm doing this; you wouldn't worry about survival anymore._  But instead of those words, she replaces them with ones that made Chloe's remaining hopefulness plummet to none.

"There's still time."

Surprisingly, Chloe only nodded and Elyza could notice the way her lips pursed as she did so. Her eyes were probably closing too, and it's like she's accepting that her end is near, but wouldn't accept the ending she think she's receiving.

"Are you going to kill me?" Chloe asks, faking a calm expression. It was surprising how she managed to balance the stability in her voice to make it sound like it she was asking a normal question that wasn't asking the direction to where her fate was going.

Elyza took pity on her and decided to end her torturous teasing by getting to the point. She prepared herself by ghosting her hand above the plastic item within her pockets with her other hand and answering Chloe's question with: "It depends."

Chloe, taken aback that there wasn't a straightforward answer, fluttered her eyes open as her eyebrows arched together in confusion. A bit of bravery came in contact within her system that gave her enough courage to turn to the woman she calls a stranger. "Depe—?"

In the middle of her sentence, there was a shrill  _BANG!_  that cut off Chloe's question to static silence and made the girl fiercely coil back, shutting her eyes tightly until it physically hurts. For a fraction of a second, she thought that the gun has been triggered and fired because all she saw was red, but seeing that there wasn't any pain rippling through her whole body and that she was still in contact with her senses, she slowly cracked open an eye. What she saw made her other eye open from utterly profound confusion.

"What the hell...?" Chloe murmurs so mutedly that she didn't even hear her first word. But nevertheless, a gushing wind of poorly kept-in wheezing exploded right after she finished speaking. The sound got her head to snappishly turn to the source, and she finds the woman leaning down at a right angle, her arms intersecting one another to overlap on her stomach and one of them untangles itself to shut her mouth, trying to stop herself from making anymore noise. At the moment, the woman was practically laughing, jerking her body down every second but the only difference was that she wasn't making a sound. Her eyes were flashing a complex mix of emotions: entertainment and pain, and it were only then when Elyza started to cough that the only emotion casting on her eyes were pain. Her figure started to bend down to the point where the arm shielding her stomach touched her thigh.

"Oh—"a coughing fit interrupted her, "— _fuck_ , that hurts." Chloe cringed at her wording, but Elyza seemed to be busy coughing at the moment to care. She straightens her body again when she expelled more forceful air three times in a row and spoke again. "Shouldn't t'ov done that when I knew it would be funny as hell... _cough, cough—_ I'm torturing myself."

The time it took for Elyza to calm down was long enough for Chloe to slip out of her dazing condition and observe the blonde's being. The tattoos and plagued clothes were a bit intimidating and quite fitting for the theme of the apocalypse, though, that toy wouldn't be considered appropriate.

"It depends," Elyza manages to continue on their previous conversation, a hand on her stomach as she whirled the plastic toy [gun](http://orig12.deviantart.net/21f7/f/2011/136/4/8/bang_gun_1_by_movielover37-d3gj27l.jpg) around in the air that the red  _BANG_  flag twirled around the pole it was attached too, "if you don't call me an insensitive prick because of this."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"You're an insensitive pri—"

"Hey hey, now;  _language_ , missy. That sentence could cause the turning point of your fate."

Chloe rolled her eyes, remembering when the blonde cursed in front of her and didn't seem to give a damn. "Considering that everyone is now armed with a weapon and fighting for their lives from the undead: do you  _really_  think that no one is going to call you tactless when you prank people around with a toy gun?" She spoke with a flat voice that carried a tinge of force in her first word, but it diminished as she continued to speak.

Elyza gave an eyebrow flash and wrinkled her chin, seeming impressed. "Touché, kid," she chips. "Nice phrasing, too." Elyza was expecting some sort of reaction: a huff or anything, but all the girl gave was an eyebrow flash similar to Elyza's, except it was screaming out " _unamused._ " And now that Elyza was in front of the girl: she has a proper view of her appearance.

Chloe possessed azure, blue eyes with a dimpled chin and a square face framed by a strong jawline. Her eyebrows were naturally slightly arched with a rounded nose, and her freckles mostly stretching from cheek to cheek, but couples were sprinkled on her forehead. Elyza would mistake her as a blissful innocent person if she didn't come across her stoic personality and the sight of her blood-spattered clothes and stained skin.

"So, you're not going to kill me?" Chloe interrupts the woman's observing.

Elyza shrugged, pushing the pole back in to the barrel of the toy while stuffing the flag around it. "Wasn't it obvious that I was merciful enough?"

"You can't be too careful when there's a possible chance."

"So you want a straightforward answer?"

Chloe rubbed her forearm with her chin slightly down, finding her hands interesting. "To clear things up, yeah."

Elyza stared at her, squinting as her eyebrows creased. Her head started to tilt in time and Chloe looked at her through her lashes, chin still tucked down, when the woman decided to remain silent. Her eyebrows shifted upward, signaling that she wanted the answer now.

"....Nah," Elyza answers slowly, sounding unsure but becomes more confident with her answer in time and starts to negatively nod her head. "Nah," she repeats with more sureness. "Nah, you're good. Uh...in  _fact..."_ she emphasizes the last word when she stretched her neck towards the top of the stairs, scanning if anyone protested her command and eavesdropped. "You say you were looking for supplies, right?"

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"Are you positive that  _this_  is a week worth of food..?"

"What, do you doubt me?"

"Partially." Elyza scoffed at that. "And it just looks like you handed me a few cans that'll last for, what, probably like 3 days?"

"You can't underestimate 7 cans of Spam."

"Then I probably should get out of the habit of being picky," Chloe mumbles, examining a can of Spam in her hands with a minimal cringe. She puts the container back at the pinnacle of the food pile inside the cellophane bag Elyza gave her and hung it at the joint of her elbow. "Thanks for the food. Are you expecting anything back?"

"Information, if it isn't too much."

"What about?"

"About you and your family."

Chloe's eyebrow sank down. "You're asking for some type of bonding session?"

"It's mostly for safety, but a little connection wouldn't hurt, right?"

"I guess we're already in a secret alliance at this point," the girl mumbles, her gaze descending down like she's trying to convince herself. She looks up again when she speaks. "Okay...so, my family usually rummages through houses for an hour and a half. 30 minutes if we can't seem to find anything interesting."

"Is your family normally friendly?"

"No. We, or...at least  _they_  have trust issues even before this all started. And for an additional plus: we're a hunting family, so even if I don't look like it, I can handle a sniper rifle."

Elyza flashed an impressed expression, but didn't lead the conversation into another topic. "How old are you?"

Chloe raised her eyebrow at that, but didn't question anything. "I'm 14."

 _Ah, I was right!_ "Are you usually true to your word?"

"Only to allies and familiar faces."

"Yeah, no shit," Elyza mumbles with an unmoving mouth before speaking normally. "Does your family normally split up when looting?"

"Yeah, to cover more ground faster."

"So does that mean you have a walkie talkie on you?"

"I'm not that lucky."

Elyza hums. "That's good, I guess...A'ight, come," she beckons, beginning to walk to the kitchen as she waves her fingers over her shoulder to signal the girl to shadow her trail. Chloe does, hesitantly, and follows her with a reasonable size gap between them and stops at the corner of the hall, leaning a shoulder against it while realizing Elyza was aiming for a backpack hanging from a chair. The woman doesn't seem to have the patience within her to unzip the pack fully and instead shoved a hand into the space that was already opened and pried it free. There was a tussle of clanking iron and steel inside the pack before her hand pulled back with a [walkie-talkie](http://walkietalkie101.s3.amazonaws.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/04/Motorola-CP200.jpg), and after she settled it next to her backpack, her hand dipped back into the contents to retrieve a second one while her other hand zipping the pack back up with a minimum effort added before reclaiming the 1st walkie talkie.

She turned around to Chloe, lending a radio to her. "Do you know how to use one?"

"Uh..." Chloe slowly reaches out, acting as if she was about to touch something she'll know will burn like hell. "I know you need to hold the button on the side to communicate through it and the knob on the top is for adjusting the volume...Next to it is the antenna, I think."

"Great. That's all you need." Elyza excluded the remaining distance from Chloe's hand to hers when they were two fingers length from each other and shoved the walkie talkie in the girl's grip, caring less when she flinched from the sudden action and patted her shoulder along the way when she brushed pass her figure. "Just pull the antenna out when you're trying to reach me. Keep it mute the whole time until you're about to leave."

"Tell me again why do I need this?" Chloe questions while fiddling with the radio in her hands.

"So you can tell me when you guys leave so  _we_  can leave. And don't press the button unless you're alone; it makes a little clicking noise and that alone could attract some nearby daytime Wendigoes. I'll be here waiting for your signal for all clear."

"Daytime Wendigoes?"

"They're some abnormal beings that have very sensitive hearing," Elyza quickly summarizes while she striding to the entrance, "Wendigoes mostly come out at night or if it's really cold outside, so the daytime ones are rare to spot, but you can never be too careful. Don't move when you see one, and don't be stubborn to kill it, too. Is that enough information?"

"Yeah, I got it."

"Y'good?"

"I'm good."

"Great. So we're all set." Elyza kneels down at the foot of the entrance to acquire Chloe's butcher knife, handing it back to her when she saw the girl coming towards her. "Loot n' boot and tell me when you leave so we can head out."

Taking back her weapon, Chloe secures the walkie talkie at the back pocket of her jeans while glancing at the top of the stairs, recalling the time Elyza mentioned that she was traveling with a family when she was giving her provisions. "Yeah...okay."

Elyza rewards her with a tight, playful smile. "All right. Have fun, kiddo!" She pats Chloe's back hard enough to make her jerk forward, clutching the radio to her chest as she stumbled out the entrance when the blonde opened it for her. "Goodnight!"

When she was back at her feet, Chloe turned around, the radio still pressed onto her chest but not as tightly as before when she gave a soft, confusing look at Elyza.

At that, the woman explained. "Goodbye isn't a word I find appropriate; we'll see each other again, right?"

"It doesn't mean forever though."

Elyza shrugged. "It used to be. But now, it'll probably be your last words to someone else. There's no  _good_  in that," she clarifies, using one hand for air quotations around the word  _"good."_  "Plus, it's kind of saying that you're relieved someone's leaving."

If Elyza investigated Chloe's expression more, she would've caught her veiled smile. She didn't, though.

"Thanks," Chloe says in the softest way possible that Elyza had to guess what she said since the word didn't reach her.

Either way, she gave the girl her signature half-smile and a two-fingered salute. "Good luck, buddy. Stay strong!" And with that, she ruffled Chloe's beanie and closed the door.

Chloe didn't move, though. She stayed still like she was wedge to the floor, staring at the door with a progressing frown on her face. After a moment of stillness, she turned back and scanned her surroundings, the radio still pressed against her chest.

"I'm not strong," she mumbles to herself like it was a reminder, finally peeling off the walkie talkie away from her chest to examine it. "Stubborn?" Her head lifts up again, skimming through the environment once more before hauling the cellophane bag up to her shoulder and started to walk away.

"Maybe."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

Elyza decided that it was probably time to call out the family; they've probably been hiding for almost an hour and Elyza knows that there aren't many options for hiding when excluding the bed and closet out of the choices, but she takes her time climbing the stairs. Saving her the pain of raising her voice, she goes to each door one by one, knocking before opening it and addressing that it was all clear.

She does her procedure with the first door and says, "Come out, you dipstick."

Not long, she discovers the room maintained Alicia as she spots the said brunette's head poking out above the bed's headboard with a cocked eyebrow. "Dipstick?"

Elyza smirks, shrugging. "Let's just say I'm lucky that you're not your mother."

"I wouldn't doubt that," the girl replies while hoisting herself up the bedhead, grunting. "I don't think being called a word that has the word 'dip' in it would be considered a compliment."

Elyza softly chuckles. "Good observation." After Alicia swung her legs to dangle it at the side of the mattress, she bent down and pushed herself off, her hair unraveling a peek of a white wire at the process. Elyza recognized what it was before it disappeared into view again when the girl stood up. "Were you listening to something?"

"Hm?"

The woman tapped at her own ear to indicate what she saw. "Earbuds?"

"Good observation," Alicia mimicked, attempting to make a straight face but ended up softly chuckling with the other woman. "I was listening to your dumbass, yes."

Elyza linked her hands behind her back, leaning in with swinging shoulders and a childish grin. "I assume that you haven't gotten far with my vlogs because I was looking for a word along the line of 'dick' or 'insensitive?'"

"I've already suspected the first, so I'm not far behind."

" _Ah_ , but you're missing out on the latter!"

Alicia scoffed. "You want me to think you're insensitive?"

"Better to love the disaster I am than the fake bitch I act to be." After a second, Elyza widens her eyes and over exaggerated a gasp, making Alicia's head coil back. "I figured out my new inspirational motto," she whispered.

The brunette crossed her arms, rolling her eyes. "Can't wait to see that in school halls," she mocks a loud mumble.

"No one can wait forever."

She squints in reply, muttering, " _Tsh_...you really are insensitive."

Elyza raised a brow and converted all her weight on one leg while mimicking Alicia's crossed arms. She painted an inappropriate, small raise of a corner of her mouth. "Was I not clear enough on that?" She dangles her arms back to her sides, glancing at the door. "And before this gets out of hand, I still have to get the others and tell them that it's all clear. We'll meet back at the living room and I'll inform you guys on what happened."

"All right." Alicia juts her chin to the direction of the next door. "Nick's in there, by the way; most likely behind something."

Elyza clicked her tongue, rolling her eyes. "That's no way to play Hide and Seek."

"Oh please, like you haven't seen us enter the rooms," Alicia retorts when Elyza turned to leave.

"Like I have good memory?"

"Like I thought you  _had_  that?"

Elyza let out a quiet chortle that influenced a half-smile on Alicia. "Feisty," she says in an impressed murmur as she heads to Nick's hiding area.

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

"So...you guys aren't mad?"

"That you what, gave away half of our provisions to a stranger that knows our location while we have no evidence that she's telling the truth?" Madison retorts with irritation and pinches the bridge of her nose. "No. 'Irritated' or 'confused' would be a much fitting word."

Travis crossed his arms and leaned his head down to rub on his temple. "Elyza, I really don't get how you trust strangers so quickly. It could get you killed."

Elyza resisted the urge to roll her eyes.  _That's kind'ov the point,_ she replies in her head, but verbally answers: "We have to remind ourselves that there's still a thing called ' _humanity_ ' around here."

"And  _that,"_  Alicia nonchalantly joins in, turning everyone's heads. "Could also get you killed. You have to come to terms that the world isn't magically going to come back into control anymore possibly ever."

"And from the fact that the world is slowly ending, it'll make benevolence appropriate to throw away just like that?"

"What we're saying is," Madison cuts in, "that we cannot trust everyone that we see. Today, offering kindness to someone that you don't know is too much of a risk for your life. It's only for the ones who proved themselves worthy."

"This game of apocalypse is practically measuring how much your qualities of being human will go to distance," Elyza says with enough force that she's at the peak of harming her stomach again. "You can't forget that people aren't like the undead! You can't treat them like they're one of them! Not all of them are monsters and you can't always predict that everyone you see are the people who forget that humanity is even a thing!"

"And you can't  _always_  see the good in people, Elyza," Madison says in a soft voice as an attempt to calm the blonde down. "Why can't you just see how big of a threat that is to our survival?"

"What is it with you people with  _surviving_?" Elyza humorlessly chortles, eyeing everyone in the room with a sarcastic smile. "Do you really want to keep on living in a world like  _this_  now? Where killing another human being is considered survival?"

"Well that's really hypocritical of you to say considering that you're surviving along with us—,"

"Because there are still people to protect," Elyza shoots back with a hint of force. Her head sharply turned to Alicia, delivering an equally vicious glare and took a step into her personal space. The tips of their noses were a foot away, but the brunette didn't step back: only narrowed her eyes more until her furrowed eyebrows caused her eyes to slightly squint. Elyza had her hands attached to her hips and added an eyebrow raise to her expression, speaking in a hardened mumble. "Does that ring a bell, Alicia?" She tilts her head at the mention of her name for emphasizing pleasure.

_"Because there was still you to protect."_

Alicia's expression alleviated enough for the crease between her eyebrows to vanish. Her face soon rested back to her neutral bitch-face after she slowly accepted the fact that this quarrel won't lead to anything other than making an uncomfortable atmosphere for her family. A quick scan of Elyza's eyes sent an urgent unseen message of " _I don't want to do this any longer,"_ and with that, Alicia shifted her gaze down to her feet.

"I wish it didn't," she finally responds a little harshly but holds eye-contact with her feet. Alicia glances through her lashes and sees Elyza's jaw visibly relaxing as it dragged the corners of her mouth into a deeper, but neutral frown.

With a heaving slow sigh, Elyza twists her figure so that she her eyes laid on the shifting family. "Why don't you trust her anyway? She's just a kid," she says, turning the tide of the topic.

"But a kid who knows how to handle a  _sniper rifle_. I-it's just..." Nick cringes, scratching the back of his head. "Just...I-I don't know, Elyza. She said so herself that her family isn't really trusting for strangers."

"She also says that she's true to her words."

"Anyone can lie about that," Madison butts in.

"She tells the truth about her family, but lies about herself?"

"She could pose for an innocent!" says Nick.

"Okay, but  _lying_  when held on gunpoint?" Elyza bitterly chuckles in-between words. "She immediately surrendered when I threatened her; she _stayed_  when my back was turned, she rejected your provisions multiple times until I  _insisted_ , she stayed in her place when I've told her you were all up  _there!_ " Her voice escalated into a pitch that made everyone flinch, including herself (but it was the cause of pain), when she swung a finger to the top of the stairs to indicate the place she was speaking of. Almost immediately, her expression changed into pursed lips and closed eyes when she felt a sudden pang of aching within her stomach. With a deep breath, she tries to speak again in a lighter, but hardened voice. "I'm just saying...that I know a lie when I hear one. Give her a chance to prove herself."

No one responded immediately. Their words were all tangled within their tongue, afraid that if they announce them, it'll cause another wave of an accidental rile.

Travis releases his first. Slowly. "You do realize that that single chance could turn our fate somewhere else?"

Thankfully, Elyza's features softened. But she still looked pissed. "I trust her."

"What made her so presentable?" Elyza centered her sight at the speaker—Madison—who had a cautious voice when she continued. "Not even within an hour, she seemed to convince you that she was trusting; in an apocalypse where almost everyone turned sadistic, I might add."

"A life for a life;

It's all I could've done for her."

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

_Elyza was drenched._

_Her wassweatshirt sprinkled in a darker shade of its natural color, and it was sticking within her skin. The rain was drumming around her flesh, and all she could do to produce a little warmth was shove her iced hands within the pockets of her sweatshirt while she squeezed the sides of her torso with her arms. She tucked her head between her shoulders, crushing her thighs tightly together as she continued to stare at the droplets of liquid seeping in her [jeans](http://cdn.shopclues.com/images/detailed/7009/guessjeanspz25953A_1409911093.jpg), creating a damp mark at the surface of the fabric._

_The streets had a slim layer of water coating above its façade with pouring water constantly pounding bombs on its surface. The wind wasn't that strong, but her damp clothes rendered the wind more frigid than it should be and it caused Elyza to tense and quiver in every round of blows._

_Shelter wasn't an easy scavenge; the blonde only managed to find a bench without invading anyone's property. She didn't even try knocking on people's doors around the neighborhood, because who would even make an attempt to open doors at a time like this? Everywhere she looks: curtains are drawn back and lights didn't glow out from the windows, so the action would only cause emotions of embarrassment and disappointment._

_She couldn't travel that far off, anyways. The storm will only slow down her voyage and cause more torment. Plus, she'd prefer trekking around familiar grounds before the sky was about to transfer into a dark shade. Right now, it's dark grey from the clouds._

_But even after the torturous, glacial weather she's experiencing, the thought of rejection, her limited options, and even the thought of freezing to death, she doesn't regret her decision._

_Not after she felt so free after so long._

_Despite everything she's physically feeling; Elyza bares a weak smile. If freedom felt like this, then it's something worth living for._

_She wishes that wasn't an exaggeration though, because honestly, she would kill for a warm fire and dry clothes by now. Maybe even go back and snatch a thick coat or jacket..._

_Elyza scolds herself from the thought about going back. She was already in this deep and sacrificed a shit-ton for the opportunity of escape. She did wish though, that she chose a better day to do her plan. Oh, the consequences of deleting the weather app on her phone for the trade of more memory. She never used it anyways and never thought she would, so why the fuck not? She forgot to charge her phone after her flee anyways, let alone_ pack  _it with her probably, so it wouldn't change either way_ **weather** _she had the app or not._

 _Elyza only laughed for a spam of a second before cringing at herself with a disgusted "_ oh,"  _while shaking her head, bringing her knees up inside her sweatshirt. She wonders why she had to be stuck with a_   _moron of an author to write_ her _character._

_Elyza retracts her arms inside her sweatshirt as well, letting the sleeves dangle on her sides as it deflated without the support of her arms, and created an 'x' with them pressed within her chest, leaning her torso to her thighs. She rests her chin on her knees; the thin material of cotton lined between them, and feels her chin immediately muster a thin layer of wet from the sodden cloth. She felt too cold to bring up her hands to pull her hood down, and her position was already starting to get comfy, so she dipped her face inside of her sweatshirt, too. She was taking the form of a clothed square right now. And after rounds and rounds of pounding rain..._

_Her head was suddenly at peace. The ongoing pressure of water; gone._

_The constant beating stopped, and from the inside of her sweatshirt, the material rendered the color of her surroundings in tinted red, as if there was a thin red object above her, seeping it's color in it's casting shadow._

_Elyza was...confused, to say the least. She felt no beatings of rain, but heard it all around her. She was exposed but felt covered. So, out of pure confusion..._

_She lifts her head to find a little girl lifting a red[umbrella](http://www.raintecumbrella.com/files/a122_34363.jpg) above her._

_The sight startled Elyza enough to make her physically flinch. The child followed her action too, and coiled back a tiny step._

_They stared at each other for what seemed like a minute (which, if you actually time that, that's really fucking long) before the girl starts fidgeting in her place that her[rain-boots](http://istaydry.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/12/rain-boots-for-kids-24.jpg) starts stomping tiny splashes. It was obvious she had something to say, but was too shy to actually speak it, so Elyza waited until she gathered enough courage._

_"Hello..." the girl starts out in a quiet muffle. Her[jacket's](http://g.nordstromimage.com/ImageGallery/store/product/Zoom/17/_11459917.jpg) collar covered her mouth and caused her words to stifle, but Elyza could pinpoint a hint of an accent; Canadian._

_Blue eyes and pale skin. Freckled face and light brown hair. She looked no more than 10 years old. Elyza pushed her shock away and gave a soft smile, returning her greeting with a plain "Hi," as if she wasn't out in the cold._

_The respond seemed the make the girl fidget more, and her free hand kept clenching and unclenching. She bounces on the tip of her toes, attempting to avoid eye-contact from the blonde, and looks as if she's battling out a decision in her head of what to say next, because even though her mouth is covered, Elyza could see the material shifting from the movement of the girl's lips._

_"Are you...are you okay?"_

_Elyza wanted to make a snarky comment from that, because from just her physical appearance only, you wouldn't even wonder if she's feeling okay. Because you'd know straight away that she's probably experiencing hell._

_But from the way the girl looked so vulnerable and shy that her nervousness was radiating towards Elyza, she decided to try and make her a little more comfortable._

_"I'm freezing," she deadpans, flashing a slanted smile for a split second._

Wow, so much for open arms.

_The girl looked so shy; looked like she didn't want to be here. It was probably by force, but Elyza didn't bat an eye when she realized that._

_She looked like she was done talking, but not with communicating. She kept glancing at Elyza's eyes and back to her feet for a few seconds until her line of sight was somewhere off Elyza's shoulders._

_Elyza took the hint and tracked where she was staring at, and it was a grey two-storied house with the front door opened a crack. She noticed right away that the house belonged to the kid and her family, and it was an invitation to come inside._

_Elyza twists her head back to the girl, giving a brief grin. "You're inviting me inside?" She was confident that it was an invitation, but better safe than sorry._

_Her voice didn't travel clearly through the sound of pouring rain, but the girl translated two or three words correctly and nodded enthusiastically with cocked eyebrows. The action crafted a longer-lasting grin on Elyza._

_"You don't think I'd be a weight on you?"_

_The kid rapidly shook her head negatively, and it bubbled and weak chuckle from the other girl. She blushed, but her smile was evident even if her head was leaning down to the ground and the material of her collar was covering most of her mouth._

_Elyza would be a madwoman if she'd reject the offer, even if it was for generosity, so she popped her legs back out, ignoring the sudden gush of frigid air harassing her exposed skin, and jumped back to her feet. The girl had to scoot back a step so that her umbrella didn't hit Elyza._

_With the teenager back up on her two feet, the little girl straightened her arm towards the blonde, as an act of lending the umbrella. With a thankful smile and a brisk nod, the older girl accepted their trade, and held it mostly above the child's head while Elyza's left shoulder was exposed to the rain. She didn't mind._

_"Now," Elyza speaks with a sprinkle of playfulness in her voice. "What did you say your name was again?"_

 

 

_"My name's...Chloe."_

* * *

 

_“Oh my_ God _,” Elyza stretches out in a sigh after closing the umbrella and stepping a foot into Chloe’s house. She craned her head backwards as an upsurge of relief took over her being from the warmth the air conditioner provided that capered across her freezing skin._

_She never thought warmth would feel so good after a solid hour or so without it._

_Elyza starts spreading her arms to make a formation of a “T” with her neck that was still bent upwards. Her facial expression was at a pleasurable, content rest as she began to speak out: “Shelter!” in a breathless kind of way._

_The corner of Chloe’s mouth peeked above her jacket’s collar, and her muffled giggle didn’t go unnoticed by Elyza as the said teenager readjusted her head to look at her. The laugh alone provoked the older girl to grin, but Chloe didn’t see it soon enough as she transferred her smile to the floor._

_“Thanks again for picking me up, kiddo!” Elyza cheerfully says, leaning the red umbrella to a corner next to the door. “I dunno if I ever even thanked you in the first place, but either way; without you, I would’ve been an ice-cube with legs or a statue or somethin’.”_

_Elyza turns her head over her shoulder when no response came out automatically and found out that Chloe just…smiled. She spoke some inaudible words, and Elyza could only assume she said “You’re welcome,” but she only reincorporated her smile just to be safe._

_After putting the umbrella away, Elyza had a sudden shiver that struck through her clothing, to which she started to strip off her damp sweatshirt that revealed a low-cut[tank top](http://sc01.alicdn.com/kf/HT1qbMwFKpdXXagOFbXR/220723736/HT1qbMwFKpdXXagOFbXR.jpg) and a hit of a black sports [bra](http://www.lindex.com/Archive/ProductImages/6393/6393679/S0000006648707_F_W40_20111004135313.jpg). “You got a fire place here I could start? I’m still a little cold,” she says through the material of fleece._

_“We do,” Chloe replies with the most certain-filled voice Elyza heard from her yet, “…we just don’t …use it. I’m not sure if that’s a good idea though.”_

_Elyza doesn’t seem irritated. “That’s cool. That’s all right. Uh, what about a spare blanket? Some hot chocolate, tea, a candle even? I-if it isn’t…too much to ask.”_

_The girl started nodding when Elyza’s lips fell into the word “tea,” but started nodding negatively after her list was done. “It isn’t. And I have all of those things. Hot chocolate and tea are at the bottom of the island in the kitchen. I’ll get a blanket for you while you’re at it…and you can sit over there,”—she points to her left, to the receiving room—“if you’re finished making the stuff. The lighter is in the corner left cabinet below the sink. Candles are already in the receiving room: you can pick which one you want to light.”_

_Elyza was surprised from the mix of emotions in her tone. She sounded confident; commanding even, but with a tinge of softness and delicacy. Her shyness was still lingering in the decrease of volume she shared along her directions, but she was still…positive, of what she was saying._

_It gave Elyza a phantom smile. “Crystal clear, Chloe,” she says, her smile growing when the said girl gave a coy laugh and a smile to the floor._

_“I’ll be back with your blanket.”_

* * *

 

_And she did._

_With her footsteps lightly pampering across the stairs, Chloe finds a lenient tingle of orange straggling across the retrieving room’s walls. She takes a step or two closer to find a cluster of blonde hair situated above an armchair. The glowing outlined Elyza’s head._

_The surface of the last step of stair creaked, and it caused the teenager’s head to whirl around her shoulder. She grinned when she saw Chloe equip the blanket like a cape, hung lazily above her shoulders with no support of her arms. It looked like it was about to fall._

_It looked like it was probably a habit of hers._

_When Chloe walked towards her direction, it only took a few steps for Elyza to notice she also carried along something in her hand. It took the pattern of plaid—kind of looks like a flannel’s collar._

_Chloe handed the blanket to her guest at an appropriate distance, but kept the object in her hands. The instant Elyza held the sheet; she basically fell in love, because god_ damn _, it was soft. She even moaned a little, to which, Chloe grins at._

_“Sweet Jesus, this blanket is softer than my b…” the last word got stuck in her throat when she caught a glance of Chloe’s arched eyebrow. “Boots.  My boots. They’re furry. Unbelievably furry; so very soft you would believe it when I say they’re made out of kittens.”_

_There was a small raise on Chloe’s mouth, but her eyebrow stayed locked in place. She was more mature than the “average” 10-year-old everyone paints her to be, but she can’t deny that attempt to turn the tide was in favor of her sense of humor. Her line of sight went to Elyza’s feet._

_She was wearing converse. Not that she mentioned she was wearing_ the _boots, but it dumps more of a shit-ton of doubt. Chloe then looks Elyza straight in the eye for the first time. The teenager was focused enough on her face to realize there was a specter of a smile frolicking on her mouth._

_“Your boobs look softer.”_

_Chloe goes into the kitchen afterwards._

* * *

 

_“Hum…Truth or dare?”_

_“…Truth.”_

_“Bud, come on; you’ve been picking that ever since we’ve started playing this.”_

_“I just have a feeling that one of your dares would be going outside without a jacket on.”_

_“Damn. Well, that’s only one thing off my list.”_

_Chloe laughed. It was a nice sound when it wasn’t nervous. It formed wrinkles around her eyes._

_“Are you going to ask about my truth now, or are you going to keep complaining that I didn’t pick dare?”_

_She opened up more, too. She used to shorten her sentences are much as possible, and now, its vice-versa._

_“Mm…I don’t know. Truths are pretty lame.”_

_“Go for personal if you’d like. I’m open.”_

_“Personal?”_

_“How obvious can I get?”_

Damn. Warmed up a little too much to me, Chloe? _“Psht. All right Ms. Sass; are you in a relationship?”_

_Chloe didn’t seem to expect that; her head tilted. “What?”_

_“Relationship; are you in one?”_

_“I’m 10.”_

_Elyza snorted. “Yeah, and Kindergarteners were getting it ever since 2011, Elementary kids are going serious, too. My first kiss was at the age of_ 8 _. Serious or not, relationships are what they sound like.”_

_Chloe stayed quiet for a long time._

_“No.”_

_“No?”_

_“No. I’ve never been in one.”_

_“Do you at least like someone?”_

_“Truth or Dare doesn’t play out like this.”_

_“Screw that, this is my game now; my rules are my rules.” Chloe smirked. “So did you like someone? Or at lease_ liked _someone?” Elyza emphasizes._

_Chloe went silent again._

_“Feelings…aren’t really my thing, as I just recently found out; as of right now.”_

_Elyza laughs. “I wouldn’t mistake that as a yes,” she adds on a comment._

_Chloe smiled. “I was hoping you didn’t.”_

_They both shared a weak chuckle before a comfortable silence laid in their bubble. The drumming beat of pouring rain knocking outside lifted some layer of stress off the duet’s shoulders. The candle’s fire twinkled and danced around Elyza’s sharp features, flickering as a current of a wind teased along with the blaze._

_It was so…_ peaceful.

_Both the girl’s attention was wedged onto the window’s performance of the outside; the static of the rain tickling their ears, the constant ticking of a clock raving through the peaceful ether, the molten stick of wax within Elyza’s hand trickled down onto the gilt plate; the beads of candlewax repelling away from the core of the fire’s center._

_Their continuous game of Truth of Dare was seizing to exist within the dual’s interest. Staring at a window seemed to be more fun for the two._

_Elyza almost felt like she found a new friend._

_But who said that was good news?_

* * *

 

 

Alicia lays motionless at the cushions of the couch, head directed to the lounger’s backrest, cheek laying at the sofa’s armrest with her knotted legs at the other end; ankles dangling over the edge. Her hands stayed stationary at her stomach, phone protected below her palms as she blindly fiddles with the device. The music playing within her ears were as good as static; she wasn’t even listening, but an ankle of hers was twitching to the beat anyways.

Alicia’s been focusing on the sofa’s pattern for ages now, it feels like. The feeling of the cushions weren’t as comfy as before anymore; the material even started to irritate her neck, but she was a little snugged over all.

Elyza recently explained the whole situation with this Chloe Hayes person, saying how she knew her a long time ago, that she saved her life, and describing how they met. There were a few ghostly smiles here and there when she was retelling her story, but there was one question that made her expression drop to sorrowful and wretched all of the sudden.

_“How come she didn’t recognize you then?”_

Alicia’s family quickly withdrew another question when they saw the melancholy all over Elyza’s face.

 _“Why did you say she was a stranger when you knew her?”_ Elyza’s face became impassive after that.

 _“She doesn’t remember me,”_ she answers, quite coldly, _“and it’s been 4 years. She’s changed a lot; she’s like the opposite of what she was years ago. I didn’t even recognize her when I first saw her, but when I did, she was already out the door. I basically don’t know anything about her anymore, so what’s the catch of calling her someone I know? You know someone when you know_ something _about them. I don’t know shit.”_

Elyza’s voice has been strangely eerie through her explanation. Some of her words even made her eye twitch, like it’s physically hurting her admitting all of that, and her fists were constantly clenching into a tighter ball than the last time. She didn’t look mad, or irritated, or even sad.

She looked… _happy?_

God, the word even sounded weird in Alicia’s mind; Elyza’s body language was everywhere at the same time, she never thought she’d choose the word _happy_ out of every other word that could be a possibility of what she’s feeling. Regretful? Disappointed? Aggravated? _Nostalgic?_

Alicia twists her head to find Elyza at another couch in a 90 degree angle from hers. The end of Elyza’s spine was leaning into the sofa’s armrest with her feet onto the cushions of the couch. Her thighs were close to her stomach and her arms were wrapped around a small pillow that was sandwiched between her legs and torso with her chin resting atop of it, the cotton-filled pillow letting it sink down to the point where Elyza’s mouth couldn’t be seen. Her eyes seemed to find her toes interesting until Alicia moved her head.

When they held eye-contact for more than 2 seconds, one of Elyza’s eyebrows started to rise, and she freed one of her arms from her embrace of the pillow to indicate Alicia to sit with her by patting a spot on the couch.

It took a second for Alicia to move from her spot, and when she did, Elyza moves her feet off the cushions so that there would be enough space for her to sit. The girl chooses the other end of the couch and plummets into the spot hard enough to rattle the couch a bit. The blonde then went back to her previous position when Alicia was adjusting the wires to her earbuds; but only this time, her shins are above Alicia’s thighs than the cushions.

The teenager looks down at her lap and raises an eyebrow, giving Elyza a side-glance before facing her. “Comfortable?”

“Nearly,” Elyza muffles.

Alicia traces over the outline of her ears, tucking strands of hair behind it to adjust her earbuds. “Nearly?” she repeats, her eyes now looking at her phone as she twists the left bud in another position. When she was satisfied by it, her hand goes to adjust the right earbud…

Except she finds Elyza’s hand playing with the wire.

Alicia turns to her with a crease between her brows, but Elyza kept tugging and twisting it, seeming determined that she’ll get the clue.

And Alicia does.

After rolling her eyes and an unnoticeable smile, she scooches closer until the back of Elyza’s knees were now on her lap, and unplugs the left earbud from her ear to hand it over to Elyza. The woman takes it, situating the bud in its place with Alicia following along with the right bud. When they were fixed, Alicia blindly shuffles her playlist, and settles the heels of her feet on the coffee table presented in front of the couch. Elyza flashed a smile Alicia didn’t see when the teenager crossed her arms above Elyza’s knees.

They laid in silence as the playlist buffers.

And Elyza’s unconscious smile fades when she realized the [song](https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=1&cad=rja&uact=8&ved=0ahUKEwjmxNT9gJnOAhWBbz4KHS2dA8EQ3ywIHjAA&url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.youtube.com%2Fwatch%3Fv%3DHoRkntoHkIE&usg=AFQjCNFd1xrHj_2i3Yo-c78Os2WUBDysPA&sig2=Fvhnt_-NoNVkUrScNwNR3w&bvm=bv.128617741,d.cWw).

 

**_Hold on to me as we go,_ **

Elyza closes her eyes, and started to blink slowly.

 

**_As we roll down this unfamiliar road,_ **

**_And although this wave (wave) is stringing us along_ **

****

**_Just know you’re not alone,_ **

_“_ **_’Cause I’m gonna make this place your home._ ** _”_

Alicia turns her head when Elyza synced her voice with the song. She was going to smile at her, but she looked…

Sad.

 

**_Settle down, it’ll all be clear_ **

**_Don’t pay no mind to the demons_ **

**_They fill you with fear_ **

Elyza’s grip around the pillow tightened.

**_The trouble—it might drag you down_ **

**_If you get lost, you can always be found_ **

Alicia sighed, and angled her head slightly up to the ceiling.

 

 _“ **Just know you’re not alone** ,”_  she sang in a whisper, getting Elyza’s attention.

_“’ **Cause I’m gonna make this place your home.** ”_

 

 

* * *

 

 

 

“She had amnesia.”

Alicia, surprised that the silence was abruptly broken when she stopped her playlist after the first song was finished, turned to her and furrowed her brows.

“What?”

“She didn’t remember me because she had amnesia.”

 

 

* * *

 

 

_“You’re strong, you know that?” Elyza says out of the blue, turning her head to find Chloe’s puzzled expression. “You hauled my ass by going out in a storm. No one even had the nerve to pull the curtains. Then there’s you: who risked the chance of getting hit by a flying tree branch to invite me over.”_

_Chloe let out a weak chuckle. It almost sounded forced._

* * *

“I was…at a hospital once,” Elyza confirms, staring at the ceiling, “because of my stomach. I was sleeping with a family that took me in for the night, and I woke up to my stomach hurting like hell. They got me to the hospital and apparently, my stomach was swollen. I forgot whatever-the-fuck reason why, but they let me roam around the hospital for a bit, and I saw Chloe in another room.” Elyza audibly swallowed. “I asked a doctor nearby what happened to her, and they said she fell down when she was going down the stairs. Apparently, it was hard enough to cause amnesia.

I didn’t visit her or anything or asked her if she remembered me, I just…waited it out if we ever met again to see.”

“….And she doesn’t,” Alicia finishes.

Elyza lifted her index finger and waved it around. “Correctamundo,” she mocks an enthusiastic voice before dropping her arm back to her side. “Shit, even I forgot her until she said that infamous stupid quote she woefully reminds herself.”

“…What quote?”

  

 

* * *

 

 

 

_“Strong?” Chloe repeats, her interest coming back to the window again. “I’m not strong.”_

_“Stubborn…?”_

 

 

 

_“Maybe.”_

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what chloe was carrying (that "plaid-like collar") in the flashbacks, that was a microwaveable heatpad ofr your neck and shoulders. i didn't feel like trying to squeeze that in the story now, so here's a pic of it -  
> http://cdn.supadupa.me/shop/2705/images/573162/rice_heating_pad_plaid_large.jpg?1347129847
> 
> chloe hayes -  
> http://cache1.asset-cache.net/gc/144359497-canadian-girl-gettyimages.jpg?v=1&c=IWSAsset&k=2&d=ErkqLzEV69SRlBlo32ahcHqXaqR6IQ4TT3h%2FWqvF1bLsjm%2BVPGhlItTduEA8ROML
> 
> IF YOU'RE WONDERING WHERE THE REST OF ALICIA'S FAMILY WA WHEN SHE WAS HANGIN' WITH ELYZA ON THE COUCH, they were at the kitchen. again, i felt too lazy to squeeze that in.
> 
> if it isn't obvious enough that i made her canadian from that image than i don't know what else i can do.


	5. Stay A Little Longer?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> it's an annoucement, sorry lol

i won't be posting/updating any clexa/lexark stuff for quite a while, since i'm into something else again. i don't know how long i'll be back into loving clexa/lexark again, but please bare with me.

if not, it's okay, i'll probably be gone for more than months, since i'm kind of the person that's picky on their fandoms. i don't love something easily and i don't leave something easily.

 

sorry guys 8,)


	6. update

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> juuusst wantes to check it with ya guise

soo im having a random urge to start this story again?  
and im wondering how many people are actually still here. idk if this fandom is still even alive, buut, yeah

my writing has changed over the time ive taken a break from this story and i guess itll be noticeable?? maybe.

but before i jump back into clexa shit, i just want to see if peoppe are still actually here. so, roll call down below


End file.
